U.S. Officer to Probe Planting of Stories in Iraqi Newspapers

The U.S. military in Iraq has appointed an officer to investigate the controversial propaganda program that paid Iraqi media to run favorable stories written by American troops.

So far, military officials have not suspended the program, which came to light last week, said Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a military spokesman in Iraq. He did not identify the person named to investigate the program.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, as recently as Monday, said the Pentagon was still trying to gather the facts about the program, which military officials in Iraq have defended as part of their campaign to get the truth out about the war and rebuilding effort there.

Officials said they were trying to determine whether the program was possibly mishandled by a contractor -- Washington-based Lincoln Group -- or the military deliberately fashioned a covert program to place positive articles in the Iraqi press that were not identified as advertising or as originating from U.S. forces.

Johnson said last week that defense officials would take appropriate action if the program was not operating properly or if the contractor performed inappropriately.