www.the-edge.org
By Gar Smith /
The-Edge
Targeting Critics, Spreading Lies, and PSYOPS
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Protesters in |
The tools of
strategic influence were not only wielded against Saddam Hussein, they were
also turned against foreign allies and domestic critics who dared to question
Bush's agenda. The French were among the first to feel the sting of these
attacks.
Sam Gardiner's report notes that the French were clearly "the focus of
punishment in the strategic influence campaign." He has identified
"at least eight times when false stories or engineered stories were aimed
at them, the majority appearing after their lack of support in the UN for US
and
In September, government sources informed the New York Times that the
French and German governments had provided
"American intelligence sources" told the
The Washington Times received a tip from "
On April 9, Brig. Gen. Brooks told the media that his troops had discovered
"an underground storage facility containing... Roland-type air defense missiles." Lt. Greg Holmes, an army
intelligence officer, told Newsweek that US soldiers had found "51
Roland-2 missiles, made by a partnership of French and German arms manufacturers."
Holmes also stated that at least one of the Roland missiles "was
manufactured last year."
The story served to further defame the irascible French but, Gardiner writes
with a touch of sarcasm, the story "was not very well put together"
since it turned out that "the production line for the Roland-2 was shut
down in 1993."
Punishing the French
For the French, the War of the Leaks was just beginning. On May 6, "US
intelligence officials" were quoted as telling the Washington Times
that "an unknown number of Iraqis who worked for Saddam Hussein's
government were given passports by French officials in
On May 6, Fox News reported that "
The French government angrily denied the allegations and accused
As Gardiner sees it, the intended effect of that kind of non-answer was that
"he wanted people to believe the stories."
This campaign of Francophobe fibbing eventually contaminated the White House
press briefings. On May 14, a reporter asked White House press officer Scott
McClellan about the stories accusing the French of selling
McClellan's response: "Well, I think that those are questions you can
address to
Reporter: On that point, Scott, do you have any information that the French
did, in fact, issue passports to people so that...."
McClellan: I think -- no, I think that's a question you need to address to
Reporter: Well, no. It's information the
McClellan: I don't have anything for you.
"The Secretary of Defense told us before the war
he was going to do strategic influence," Gardiner notes wryly. "It
appears as if the French were a target."
Targeting Domestic Critics: The
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The White House claimed that these aluminum tubes were proof that |
In
At he same time, in the
The White Flag Incidents
On March 24, Pentagon briefing officer Tori Clarke told reporters that
"the Iraqi regime is engaged in other deadly deceptions. They are sending
forces out carrying white surrender flags... The most serious violations of the
laws of war."
There were only two alleged incidents cited to support this story. One appeared
engineered and Gardiner now believes that the other incident was
"fabricated to cover a very serious friendly-fire event."
On March 23, a Marine unit came under artillery fire near Nasiriyah
in southern
The other "White Flag" incident was a widely reported tragedy in
which Iraqi soldiers shot civilians who were trying to flee to safety under a
white flag. But the Iraqi soldiers were also killed, Gardiner notes.
Other white flag incidents were not mentioned by the Pentagon or Messrs. Bush
and Blair. Gardiner recalls one "memorable picture of the war" that
showed "British troops standing over two dead Iraqis in a foxhole: they
had been holding up a white flag."
George W. Bush repeated the white flag story on April 5. By then, Bush should
have been aware of the real cause of those Marine deaths. Gardiner reports that,
according to the surviving Marines, nine of those killed "may have been
killed by an A-10 [a
A report released in October indicates that these deaths were being
investigated as a "friendly fire accident." At least one of the young
Marines caught in the supposed Iraqi "ruse" was, in fact, killed by a
round fired from an A-10 gun that hit him directly in the chest.
The Execution of Prisoners
At a joint news conference with Mr. Bush at
Unfortunately, further evidence was exactly what Blair lacked. The very next
day the sister of one of the dead soldiers told the Daily Mirrorthat her
brother's colonel "told us he was not executed. We just can't understand
why people are lying."
Pentagon spokesperson Victoria Clarke also told reporters that the Iraqis had
killed "Americans who had either surrendered or were attempting to
surrender." This report turned out to be "unconfirmed."
A week after the British press had attacked the "executions" story as
a total fabrication, and Blair's press spokesperson had been forced to admit
that there was no "absolute evidence" to support the story, George W.
Bush told the American Forces Press Service: "They have executed prisoners
of war." Bush repeated the falsehood on April 5 and Rumsfeld
echoed the lie on April 7.
The US press attempted to catch up to their British counterparts by questioning
Rumsfeld on April 7. As usual, Rumsfeld's
defense was the non-answer.
Reporter: Mr. Secretary, you stated flatly that American POWs have been
executed. On what basis do you make that statement?
Rumsfeld: I think I said they have executed prisoners
of war.
Reporter: Are you saying that there have not been American prisoners executed
then?
Rumsfeld: I'm not saying that either. There may very
well have been, but I'm not announcing that, if that's what you're asking... We
do know that they executed a lot of prisoners of war over the years."
The Shula District Bombing
On March 29, an explosion in an open-air market in Baghdad's Shula District killed more than 50 Iraqi civilians. The
Iraqi government condemned the attack and blamed it on coalition bombers. US
military spokespersons tried to turn the blame back on Iraq, suggesting that
the civilians were killed by Iraqi artillery or anti-aircraft rockets that went
awry.
British journalist Robert Fisk reachned the site soon
after the massacre and uncovered a 30-centimeter shard of shrapnel that showed
the serial number of the weapon that caused the massacre. It was a HARM missile
built by the US military contractor Raytheon.
On April 3, CENTCOM issued a new story claiming to have received "reliable
information" that the Hussein regime was planning to bomb Shiite Muslim neighborhoods in Baghdad so that it could blame the damage
on the US-UK coalition.
"The CENTCOM cover story came from Jim Wilkinson," Gardiner
discovered. The British, however, refused to support this argument. They
continued to claim (rightly, it now appeared) that no British bombs had caused
the death and devastation in the Shula District.
PSYOPS -- The Darkest Face of Deception
"Strategic influence is aimed at international audiences (and maybe
domestic audiences)," Gardiner explains, while PSYOPS (Psychological
Operations) "are targeted at the bad guys."
The disturbing thing about this war, Gardiner found, was that "PSYOPS
became a major part of the relationship between the governments of the US and
the UK and the free press."
The record reveals how the Pentagon, State Department and White House all
relied on PSYOPS techniques to manipulate the media as a psychological weapon
against the Iraqis.
When Rumsfeld declared that "The days of Saddam
Hussein are numbered," that the "regime is starting to lose control
of their country," and that "The outcome is clear. The regime of Saddam
Hussein is gone. It's over," he was really using the US media to send a
message to the people in Iraq.
On March 24, British Air Marshall Brian Burridge told
the press that the old regime was "crumbling" and encouraged Saddam's
opponents to "develop greater levels of courage" and rise up against
the dictator.
There was no better example of PSYOPS "distorting the free press with
false information," Gardiner claims, than the alleged surrender of Iraq's
51st Division.
On March 21, Reuters (citing "defense
officials, who asked not to be identified") reported the stunning news
that an entire Iraqi division had surrendered en mass to US Marines in southern
Iraq.
CBS News followed with a report the next day claiming that "an
entire division of the Iraqi army, numbering 8,000 soldiers, surrendered to
coalition forces." CBS's source: unnamed "Pentagon officials."
The surrender of the 51st became a major news story that truly seemed to
confirm the Pentagon's predictions of a quick and easy victory. "It was
told as if it were a truth," Gardiner writes. "It was told on both
sides of the Atlantic. It had been coordinated. It was not true."
The story was intended to break the fighting will of the Iraqi army. On March
23, reporters from Agence France-Presse and Al-Jazeera
TV managed to reach Col. Khaled al-Hashemi, the commander of the 51st. He replied in no
uncertain terms that he not only had not surrendered but he would remain in Basrah and "continue to defend the people."
The surrender of an entire division would have been a powerful blow to the will
of the Iraqi army. The perception managers knew this. It is clear to Gardiner
that this story "was not an intelligence failure. You would know if you
have an entire division" suddenly surrendering. The story was a PSYOPS
hoax.
Other PSYOPS hoaxes were to follow. Stories were leaked that Hussein had made
secret plans to spirit his family out of Iraq to safety. It was rumored that Hussein had deposited $3.5 billion in Libyan
banks.
Gar Smith is Editor Emeritus of Earth Island Journal, Roving Editor at
The-Edge (www.the-edge.org)
and co-founder of Environmentalists Against War (www.envirosagainstwar.org).
For more
information contact:
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