The Los Angeles Times discovered that Iraqi newspapers were paid up to $900 (£520) via an intermediary to run articles with headlines such as "Terrorists attack Sunni volunteers" and "Iraqis insist on living despite terrorism".
The newspapers, contacted by the LA Times, professed not to know the articles were written by US military officials. Some of the papers published the articles as news stories, while others differentiated them from standard editorial by labelling them "advertising", or putting them in boxes or in different typefaces.
The LA Times' source at The Pentagon, who is opposed to the practice, said: "Absolute truth was not an essential element of these stories."
It has also been revealed that the task force responsible for generating the articles has purchased an Iraqi newspaper and taken control of a radio station.
The Information Operations Task Force in Baghdad is under the control of Army Lieutenant General John R Vines. A spokesman for Vines declined to comment for the LA Times article, as did a Washington-based company called Lincoln Group, which the LA Times identified as responsible for translating and placing the articles.
The news comes after the Bush administration was shown to have some issues with homegrown Arab media. President George Bush was last week reported to have hatched a plan to bomb the Qatar offices of Arab television network Al Jazeera.
Bush was allegedly dissuaded from the plan by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who said that an attack on an ally would provoke a major backlash.
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