The Best War Money Can Buy: John Rendon and Iraq
The Rendon Group (TRG) is an American public relations firm with connections at the highest levels within the U.S. intelligence community and the Demcratic Party. Over the past decade, it's received more than $100 million in U.S. government funds, both to provoke instability within Iraq and to prepare the American public for war.
Of special note:
In 1991-1992, TRG vigorously "spun" news to downplay humanitarian concerns over sanctions. TRG was influential in the formation of the Iraq National Congress. TRG most recently surfaced as a key player in the "Office of Strategic Influence", the Pentagon's planned (dis-)information initialtive following 9/11.
The history of TRG and Iraq reads like the children's rhyme where an old woman swallows a fly (and next swallows a fly-eating-spider, bird, cat etc.).
Beginning with the Gulf War ...
(1) The demonization of Saddam Hussein by TRG and others was so successful, that post-war diplomatic progress became politically impossible.
(2) Therefore, containing Iraq through sanctions became the most politically expedient solution, and here TRG led the initiative to forestall any question of humanitarian impact.
(3) Through TRG's efforts, Iraqi opposition coalesced around the Iraqi National Congress (... though the INC had no credibility within Iraq. The INC is the first proxy army in history that requires a proxy army.)
(4) Today TRG retains close ties with the INC and has strong ties with Pentagon conservatives per the 'War on Terror'. Thus, TRG becomes a driver behind the frequent Iraq scare stories that have nudged the American public toward war (anthrax/Prague/al-Qaida in Kurdistan/defector al-Haderi).
(5) And now America is fighting a war with no pretext, with no credible post-war plan (save an occupying army), with no discussion of the impact on Iraq's society, and with little thought to regional stability and global economics.
The children's rhyme ends: "There was an old woman Who swallowed a fly. Perhaps she’ll die."
Following are The Rendon Group's highlights:
LEADERSHIP:
John Rendon is CEO of TRG. He was formerly Executive Director and National Political Director for the Democratic Party of the United States, Director of Scheduling for President Jimmy Carter, and Analyst for American Political System for BBC World TV.TRG FUNDING RELATED TO IRAQ:
>> 1991-1996:
TRG was "paid close to a hundred million dollars by the C.I.A." for press issues related to the Iraqi opposition, according to an INC official quoted by Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker (Issue of 2002-03-11,
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?020311fa_FACT ).
Rendon's own records show he spent $23M during the first post-war year alone, according to ABC News (quoted in TNR (
http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20020520&s=foer052002)).
A source of journalist Jeff Stein (familiar to many as Khidir Hamza's co-author) calls it 'a $150 million rip-off'."
(
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/5188/view/print)
>> 1998 Onward: Congress authorizes expenditure of $97-million under the terms of the Iraq Liberation Act (though much of the money remains unspent amid questions of INC accounting practices).
>> Post 9/11/2002:
Citing two Pentagon sources, Franklin Foer in the right-wing New Republic says, "The Rendon Group has billed the government at least $7.5 million for its post-9/11 services."
(
http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20020520&s=foer052002).
Regarding the "Office of Strategic Influence", although it's now disavowed note that TRG's contract with the Pentagon remains in place
(
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?020311fa_FACT).
TRG HISTORY RELATIVE TO IRAQ:
>> Most relevant to CASI, TRG worked to downplay press reports of the
humanitarian effects of sanctions following the Gulf War. According to journalists Andrew Cockburn & Patrick Cockburn ("Out of the Ashes",
HarperCollins, 1999):
"Sanctions were at the center of U.S. policy as it had evolved in the first few months after the war. It was, therefore, imperative to maintain international support for what casual readers of the Harvard team's findings and other reports might conclude was an indefensibly cruel policy. That was where the CIA operation, as deployed through Rendon's public relations exercise in Europe and elsewhere, came in useful. 'Every two months or so there would be a report about
starving Iraqi babies,' explains one veteran of Rendon's propaganda campaign.
'We'd be on hand to counter that. The photo exhibition of atrocities and the video that we had went around two dozen countries. It was all part of a concerted campaign to maintain pressure for sanctions'" (p 56)
"Unbeknownst to most of those involved in the INC (apart from Chalabi) the organization's funding came from the CIA. Much of the money--over $23 million in the first year alone--was invested in an anti-Saddam propaganda campaign directed at audiences both inside and outside Iraq and partly designed to deflect international concern over the suffering caused by sanctions. This campaign was subcontracted to John Rendon, a Washington PR specialist with excellent agency connections" (p 165)
>> For other annecdotes, review the sources below. Of note: Flags waved by Kuwaiti citizens at the end of the Gulf War to welcome American troops were made available by TRG. And - thinking it would play well in Iraq - TRG once scripted a pirate radio program so anti-Semitic, that TRG was upbraided by the Mossad.
OTHER CLIENTS:
At the time of the Kosovo campaign, TRG claimed it had worked in 79 countries. TRG worked for the Royal Family of Kuwait during the Gulf war and after, and the governments of Indonesia, Panama, and and Uzbekistan.
See
"Out of the Ashes"
Andrew and Patrick Cockburn
HarperCollins, 1999
...
http://www.protectchild.org/research.htm(Various clips and links)
...
http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20020520&s=foer052002JOHN REDON'S SHALLOW P.R. WAR ON TERRORISM.
Flacks Americana
by Franklin Foer
...
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/5188/view/printWhen Things Turn Weird, The Weird Turn Pro
Propaganda, The Pentagon And The Rendon Group
by Jeff Stein
...
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?020311fa_FACTTHE DEBATE WITHIN
by SEYMOUR M. HERSH
The objective is clear—topple Saddam. But how?
Issue of 2002-03-11
...
February 19, 2002
Pentagon Readies Efforts to Sway Sentiment Abroad
By JAMES DAO and ERIC SCHMITT
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/19/international/19PENT.html?pagewanted=print...
http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues/2001Q4/rendon.htmlThe Pentagon's Information Warrior: Rendon to the Rescue
by Laura Miller and Sheldon Rampton
...
http://www.odwyerpr.com/0306cia.htmMarch 6, 2002
TRG GOT $100M FROM CIA
...
http://www.odwyerpr.com/0508rendon.htmMay 8, 2002
RENDON GROUP GOES ‘UNDERCOVER'
...
http://www.msnbc.com/news/714946.aspHe Has Saddam in His Sights
The Bush agenda is nothing less than the re-assertion of American power in the
world, and Iraq is the next target
By Evan Thomas
NEWSWEEK March 4, 2002 issue
...
http://www.observer.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4375878,00.htmlShould we go to war against Saddam?
Peter Beaumont, Kamal Ahmed and Edward Helmore in New York
Sunday March 17, 2002
The Observer
Rendon's reaction to the Rolling Stone Story... (to be fair).
Nov 18th 2005
We read with some interest James Bamford's article about the Rendon Group (RS Issue No. 988).
For the record, the Rendon Group (TRG) had no role whatsoever in making the case for the Iraq war, here at home or internationally. Mr. Bamford's contention to the contrary is flatly untrue.
TRG reviews open source media reports for the Department of Defense and analyzes and charts positive and negative trends very much the same way public opinion researchers analyze polling data.
Unable to find facts that support his thesis, Mr. Bamford relies on false information and mischaracterization to create his story.
Some of the many mistakes in the article include:
1. Mr. Bamford states "Judy Miller's front-page story, which hit the stands on December 20th, 2001 was exactly the kind of exposure Rendon had been hired to provide." This is false. The Rendon Group does not produce or disseminate false information and has no connection at all with Judith Miller's work.
2. Mr. Bamford incorrectly writes that TRG worked for the controversial Defense Department Office of Strategic Influence. The former director of that office himself has publicly confirmed in the Chicago Tribune that the Rendon Group had nothing to do with the Office of Strategic Influence as Mr. Bamford falsely asserts.
3. Mr. Bamford incorrectly reports that the Kuwait Government worked through Citizens for a Free Kuwait to hire The Rendon Group. The Rendon Group had a contract directly with the Government of Kuwait, had no association with Citizens for a Free Kuwait and had no association with their activities.
4. Mr. Bamford absurdly characterizes the late Paul Moran as an "agent" of the Rendon Group. In fact, Mr. Moran was a journalist tragically killed while reporting for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. While we are proud to acknowledge that Mr. Moran, a gifted freelance cameraman, provided video services to TRG (and many other clients), he had not done any TRG work for years prior to the events described by Mr. Bamford.
5. Mr. Bamford incorrectly states that TRG participated in on-line chat-rooms in Arabic or English or helped clients do that. TRG as a PR company specializing in international media analysis tracks on-line media as part of its core competency but has never participated in any chat rooms.
6. Mr. Bamford states that Mr. Rendon "rises at 3 a.m. each morning ...and begins ingesting information... an assortment of government documents, many of them available only to those with the highest security clearance." Mr. Rendon does not have access to classified material in his home or via Internet, and his limited access to such material is no different from that of thousands of other DoD contractors who work for the US government.
7. Mr. Bamford quotes from a publicly available contract document, which indicated that TRG would "identify the biases of specific journalists and potentially obtain an understanding of their allegiances, including the possibility of specific relationships and sponsorships." Tracking media and journalist dynamics is undertaken by every PR firm, marketing agency and business intelligence company in today's wired world this is commercial grade media analysis, not "secret targeting of journalists that may have a sinister purpose."
8. Mr. Bamford implies throughout the article that TRG's fees are excessive. TRG's contracts with the US Government are priced according to the GSA approved billing rates, which are often substantially discounted when compared to corporate rates. A review of published figures regarding US Government contractors will show that TRG's rates are in line with industry standards.
Finally, Mr. Bamford implies that the location of his interview with Mr. Rendon, the menu and the expensive French wine were all of Mr. Rendon's choosing. Readers of Rolling Stone should know that Mr. Rendon was an invited guest to Mr. Bamford's elite Washington club described in the story and that Mr. Bamford ordered the French wine and lamb chops. Mr. Rendon had seafood.
Kind Regards,
The Rendon Group
www.rendon.com