Going out on a limb
I'm going to go out on a limb here and speculate that too often we confuse IO with psyop. More on that after I bang out this thought...
Those of your who have been on the ground know all too well how difficult it can be to get an IO message approved and produced. I think for that reason, the only thing a tactical blogger could do is the "hey, look at this stuff." Even then, the question is what media do we use? What language do we use? Anyone able to come up with an educated guess on who long it would take to generate an accurate Arabic translation of a 500-1,000 word English story? I don't know the answer, but unless it can be accomplished within a very finite and short period of time, we've lost the bubble.
The most effective IO product is a simple one, in my mind. It contributes a little bit to our psyop campaign because it presents a professional image of us, and can show that we care, but if it has any psyop value at all, that value is very subtle. Take for example the IO products that are handed out to articulate current curfews, restrictions on vehicle movements, or voting center information. Those products are pretty succint and to the point, and they pass information effectively.
Right now, approval levels on psyop efforts are pretty high. Is that because psyop operations are doctrinally structured that way? I don't know. We've learned from our mistakes made in Iraq, but those mistakes highlights how complex the problem is when we decide to try to manipulate minds. While I think your ideas have merit Rob, we've got to overcome some of the tribal effect. An Iraqi might see an incredibly powerful message that show IAF kicking ass against true die-hard AQ elements, but simple shrug his shoulders because it's happening in Rawah, and it (in his mind) has very little to do with his problems in Hillah.
Want to really take a huge risk, but do something with great potential? Allow Gen Petraeus to appear on an Al-Jeezerah or Iraqi talk show. I think that we fail to make aggressive enough shifts in this fight, and resort to packaging IO is familiar ways. Maybe it's time to step out of the paradigm we live with here in the US (military members staying out of public and possibly embarrassing situations) and let it all hang out. I think the man on the street, or the barber shop, or tea shop, would embrace a message from Petraeus if it came out in that venue. Everything else coming from us, I fear, simply sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher.
If I'm sounding like the teacher on this reply, feel free to slap me around.
EDITED TO ADD:
Rob, I was still typing out my post above when you replied. I think your statement below would be very difficult to implement, simply because we would be such a cumbersome sloth if we had to determine if you proposed activity needs to happen over a covered net. The old hands are probably going to say, keep it all covered, until it gets to the higher echelons that do the manipulation, reproduction, spamming, etc.
You're not competing for military bandwidth because you target audience is not your own military - they don't need to be convinced of anything.
The enemy's target audience is not competing for your military either - but they are competing for the support of both your own population, the ones abroad and the one your operating in.
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