Most Think Propaganda Campaign in Iraq Wrong

[SWJED]

10 Jan. Washington Post Op-Ed - 'Hearts and Minds' in Iraq.

Once again we are confronted with stories about how the Pentagon and its ubiquitous private contractors are undermining free inquiry in Iraq. "Muslim Scholars Were Paid to Aid U.S. Propaganda," reports the New York Times. Journalists, intellectuals or clerics taking money from Uncle Sam or, in this case, a Washington-based public relations company, is seen as morally troubling and counterproductive. Sensible Muslims obviously would not want to listen to the advice of an American-paid consultant; anti-insurgent Sunni clerics can now all be slurred as corrupt stooges.

There is one big problem with this baleful version of events. Historically, it doesn't make much sense...

Surely democracy in Iraq is at least as shaky as it was in Western Europe after the defeat of Hitler. The real complaint that ought to be made against the Bush administration is that it has allowed such important work to be contracted to a public relations firm (in the case cited above, the Lincoln Group) that has done a poor job of protecting anonymity. Nevertheless, one has to give the Pentagon credit: It seems to be the only government agency that is at least trying to develop Iraqi cadres to wage the "hearts and minds" campaign. The CIA seems to have all but abandoned its historical mission in this area.

The Bush administration shouldn't flinch from increasing its covert "propaganda" efforts in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. The history in the last great war of ideas is firmly on its side.

[zenpundit]

There are several strategies to follow here and the USG is not separating them sufficiently:

It would seem to me that the way you build a readership that allows you to make inroads into even a hostile cultural environment would be by creating outlets that sustain themselves with a reputation for sterling credibility and accuracy. This was the decision made regarding VOA and Radio Free Europe after WWII that they would serve long term U.S. interests best by being scrupulously accurate dispensers of information. As it happened, East bloc elite, intelligentsia and nomenklatura all came to be avid listeners to cross-check the propaganda of their own media. They may not have liked what they heard but they believed that the information was reliable.

The CIA and military intelligence also " planted stories" in the media and recruited reporters in the postwar struggle to prevent France and Italy from going Communist. These " black operations" were quiet and the secret tightly held in order to achieve the psychological effects intended. Most of the activities were not disclosed until the late 1980's.

Our current program of achieving widespread media influence combines the disadvantages of bnoth approaches without garnering benefits. We have no organ that Iraqis or Arabs regard with the credibility they give al Jazeerah or the BBC and the frequent revelations of our buying influence discredits any Arab voice holding pro-American, pro-Western or liberal views.

If we can't keep operational security - and it is clear that we cannot without some kind of housecleaning to remove leakers or very tight compartmentalization being enforced - we would be better off dropping disinformation and propaganda efforts altogether.

[Strickland]

I would content that our message should be one of justice (yes, I know this term has considerable associated baggage), NOT democracy.

[SWJED]

11 Jan. Reuters - Pentagon to Set New Communications Policy.

The Pentagon, stung by criticism over secret U.S. military payments to Iraqi newspapers to print pro-American articles, is moving to develop a "strategic communications" plan, a senior defense official said on Wednesday.

The White House and some members of Congress have expressed concern over the payments, but the military says it is important to spread the truth in Iraq to counter what it calls lying by insurgents to the Iraqi people

The defense official said that developing clear guidance for communicating with the public at home and abroad is a key issue that will be taken up this year as a result of top-level debate in the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review, or QDR...

[zenpundit]

The Pentagon, stung by criticism over secret U.S. military payments to Iraqi newspapers to print pro-American articles, is moving to develop a "strategic communications" plan,

"...after which, Pentagon personnel will be dispatched to close the doors of empty barns and affix carts to the front of horses"

This might have been more helpful around, say, January 2002. better late than never.