According to this story in the Seattle Times the US military is paying to place pro-American stories in Baghdad newspapers. From the article:

While the articles are basically truthful, they present only one
side of events and omit information that might reflect poorly on the
U.S. or Iraqi governments, officials said. Records and interviews
indicate that the U.S. has paid Iraqi newspapers to run dozens of such
articles — with headlines such as "Iraqis Insist on Living Despite
Terrorism" — since the effort began this year.

The operation is designed to mask any connection with the U.S.
military. The Pentagon has a contract with a small Washington, D.C.,
firm called Lincoln Group, which helps translate and place the stories.

Upon reading the article my first thought was of Voice of America, and wondered how this was different.  Then it occured to me that VOA is openly acknowledged propoganda while this is, well, sneaky.  My second thought was that the guys and gals in the Pentagon have started to borrow ideas from the Department of Education and having witnessed first hand the goings-on at that not-so-esteemed federal agency I find that prospect horrifying. My third thought was that these military folks must be priming themselves for jobs at the New York Times or the Washington Post.

<Insert sarcasm> Of course there are smaller concerns like the building of trust with the Iraqi people and establishing a democratic government in Iraq. I’m sure that this story will cause the average Iraqi to be even more trusting of their new leaders in Baghdad, I mean after all it’s written in black and white.  Now they can go to bed comforted by the fact that they are being openly and fairly governed by their new government, and it’s all being checked by an active and diligent Fourth Estate. <End sarcasm>

If the military wants evidence that this might not be the brightest idea all they have to do is look at the level of trust we have here in the US in our 230-year-old-basically-stable democracy to see how little effect government propaganda combined with a colluding, ass-kissing media have on the average person’s perception of the government.  Sheesh.