The response from the Pentagon was mixed with Rumsfeld's spokesperson Bryan Whitman saying that he was unaware of such practice and raised the concern that "this article raises some question as to whether or not some of the practices that are described in there are consistent with the principles of this department."

I'd likely be more disturbed by this if we weren't bombarded by propaganda and advertising every day in our own media. Granted, not a really great way to foster democracy, but is it any different for us?

U.S. military covertly pays to run stories in Iraqi press