PROPAGANDA WATCH: IRAQ HANDOVER

Juan Cole: POWER PLAY
The "handover of power" to Iraq is "a publicity stunt and has
almost no substance to it," says Middle East history professor Juan
Cole. "Gwen Ifill said on US television on Sunday that she had
talked to Condaleeza Rice, and that her hope was that when
something went wrong in Iraq, the journalists would now grill
Allawi about it rather than the Bush administration. (Or words to
that effect.) Ifill seems to me to have given away the whole Bush
show. That's what this whole thing is about. It is Public Relations
and manipulation of journalists. Let's see if they fall for it."