AFP = Arab-French Propaganda

Continuing to pose as a legitimate, objective news agency, AFP excretes an especially nauseating pile of steaming agitprop today -- not so much the substance, which I hope is true, but the sneering, suspicious tone:

The US military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to print stories written by US soldiers in an effort to polish the image of the American mission in Iraq, a US newspaper reported.

US military "information operations" troops have written the articles, which are translated into Arabic and placed in Baghdad newspapers with the help of the Lincoln Group, a Washington-based defense contractor, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Many articles are presented to Iraqi newspapers as unbiased news accounts written and reported by independent journalists, the daily said, citing documents it obtained and unnamed US military officials.

The stories denounce insurgents and tout the work of US and Iraqi troops and the US-led effort to rebuild Iraq.

Much of the effort was being directed by the "Information Operations Task Force" in Baghdad, part of the multinational corps headquarters commanded by Army Lieutenant General John Vines, the newspaper said.

Love the scare quotes -- and the absence of a byline. Every army in the history of the planet has worked to promote its cause with the public. Seems AFP is upset that someone is interrupting their cheers for the other side.

UPDATE: Oops, my mistake. AFP is filled with Zionists and imperialist Anglo dogs, so the gap will be filled by CFII, the new French CNN. Half-owned by the state, of course.

President Jacques Chirac, addressing his cabinet, said that France "must be at the forefront of the global battle of images, that's why I am resolved that our country should have an international news channel," according to government spokesman Jean-François Copé.

Chirac stated that "the goal is to show everywhere in the world the values of France and its vision of the world," according to Copé, and promised that it would have the public financing "commensurate with its ambition."

The French president has pushed for the network for nearly four years, since February 2002, when he called for a "big international news channel in French able to rival the BBC and CNN."

Right, because they're such zealous advocates of the Anglo Axis.

Impetus for the idea picked up in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, when French officials were dismayed at the way non-US and -British positions were being reported in international media.

In which the French were condemned as "cheese-eating surrender monkeys." Oh, wait, that was The Simpsons.

Some reports in US media stating that "Paris is burning" during the recent three weeks of rioting around the capital and elsewhere in France also nettled the government.

Reports suggest that CFII will be staffed by former Pravda officials, and each cubicle will be fitted with a memory hole.