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Of Orwell, Wikipedia and Guantánamo Bay

By Patrick J. Lyons

Winston Smith, the protagonist in George Orwell’s “1984,” worked at a government job he hated,

rewriting history to conform to current propaganda imperatives.

This week, a group called Wikileaks asserted that

the United States military appeared to have a Winston Smith

of its own at the Guantánamo Bay naval base,

mucking about with the way Wikipedia and news sites portray the base and,

curiously, posting odd assertions about Fidel Castro. [..]

Still, it never looks good to be caught Winston Smith-ing it on the Internet,

least of all for the American military,

which has gotten one black eye after another over its information programs.

And just as Orwell’s character found out, escaping detection is harder than it seems.

[...]