Pentagon press centre gets Hollywood glitz

For a military machine fighting a 21st-century war nothing matters more than putting across its message – and doing that against a pale blue backdrop doesn't hurt.

That at least, is the view of the Pentagon, which has spent $200,000 for a Hollywood set designer, George Allison (It Runs in the Family), to give its military briefing room in the Gulf a glitzy makeover.

During the 1991 Gulf War, General Norman Schwarzkopf, the allied commander, set up his media centre in a Saudi hotel ballroom with just an easel and a single television screen to show videos of smart bombs hitting their targets. This time, General Tommy Franks and his commanders will not have to rely on anything so primitive. Its presentation will be far more slick.

The hi-tech set at the Central Command's regional base in Qatar is the size of a small stadium, features a blue-and-white map of the world as its backdrop, while five 50-inch and two 70-inch plasma television screens hang from girders. A US spokesman said: "We use the latest technology in our military operations. It's only fitting we use it here."