It may be the worst administration in the modern era, but it is very, very good at lying.

washingtonpost.com: Bush Message Machine Is Set To Roll With Its Own War Plan While many in this country will welcome the opportunity to cheer on the U.S. forces and watch over their safety on a real-time basis, a large portion of the worldwide audience is opposed to an invasion of Iraq and could be quick to criticize the administration in the event of civilian casualties or other bleak news.

Just as in a political campaign, the Bush administration wants its version of each day's events to be first and foremost, as it seeks to press preferred story lines.

"It's a given that we want to draw attention to the truth about Iraq," including humanitarian abuses, "as soon as the dictator's grip has been loosened," one administration official said. "The truth about Iraq has been at the heart of our arguments for six months," the official said, "and it's going to be front and center for the skeptics in the weeks ahead."

The close attention to its war message mirrors the discipline the Bush team brought to his election campaign and to the passage of his domestic political agenda, especially the securing of a $1.35 trillion tax cut from Congress. Such a comprehensive communications strategy for a war, however, is unprecedented in the modern White House.

Once the war starts, the administration plans to fill every information void in the 24-hour worldwide news cycle, leaving little to chance or interpretation.