Information warfare in the war on Iraq

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

Forwarded from: vstagg () deakin edu au

[Some interesting information operations being carried out during the
war. Unfortunately here in Australia the television networks seem to
forget or ignore there is a war on at nighttime - thankfully I have
friends with cable!]



http://www.canoe.ca/WinnipegNews/ws.ws-03-21-0035.html

Friday, March 21, 2003 
'Information warfare'
Tried and true propaganda serves multiple purposes
By MARK FRITZ, Associated Press

Want to rattle the enemy? Give him a sneak peek at a scary new weapon,
pepper his commanders with e-mailed inducements to surrender, fill the
airwaves with endless accounts of an awesome army warming up for
warfare. Make something up about his wife having an affair.

Need to rally the folks at home? Question the patriotism of the
anti-war crowd, recite a grisly litany of the adversary's atrocities,
maybe roll out the trusty comparisons to that mother of all evildoers,
Adolf Hitler. Promise peace as the payoff for war.

During the Second World War, such tactics were called morale and
subversion operations. Today, the voguish terms are information
warfare and "public diplomacy." But the basic principles of propaganda
predate cable television news. They are as old as war itself.

STRATEGIC PURPOSE

"People painted their faces, wore bearskins to look bigger and
intimidating, carried banners, beat drums, chanted slogans," says
Susan Brewer, a University of Wisconsin historian and author of To Win
The Peace: British Propaganda During World War II.

Experts agree that every word, image, leak and threat being uttered by
nearly everyone connected with a war against Iraq is serving some sort
of strategic purpose. Some of it works, some it doesn't. Some of it is
true, and some of it is pure deception.

"None of this stuff is incidental," said Scott Gerwehr, an analyst at
the Rand Corp.

The selective missile strikes on Baghdad late Wednesday ran counter to
a U.S.  military commander's comments earlier in the day to "shock and
awe" the enemy at war's opening with unprecedented firepower, a
classic example of using propaganda to deceive.

Since the attacks were aimed at a place where the Iraqi leadership was
believed to be holed up, it fit with another propaganda objective: to
intimidate the leadership without unduly terrorizing a general
population being told it was about to be liberated.

Sometimes, a simple gaffe can be a strategic gift to an enemy. Brewer
gives President George W. Bush a "C" for his efforts so far. Polls
show he has won the support of most Americans, but alienated much of
the world.

His one-time reference to the war on terrorism as a "crusade" was a
blunder, seemingly affirming the worst fears of the Muslim community:
That the U.S.  agenda was to repeat the Christian Crusades of a
millennium ago to supplant Islam in the Holy Lands.

Though the president apologized, such slips have a tendency to stick.

"These things are reproduced as truths, and as permanent truths," said
Philip M. Taylor, a historian at Britain's Leeds University and the
author of War and the Media: Propaganda and Persuasion in the Gulf
War.

Taylor said reports that the United States was already soliciting
Iraqi reconstruction bids from a list of entirely American contractors
was another inadvertent propaganda plus for Saddam.

ACCOMPLISHED PERSUASION

Despite Bush's alienation of some key allies, the most recent polls
show a solid majority of Americans back a war on Iraq even without UN
approval.

His sombre, forceful, State of the Union speech in particular was an
accomplished piece of persuasion, said Nancy Snow, a communications
professor at California State University and author of the book
Propaganda, Inc.

Snow said she showed a tape of the speech to her American Media
History class. "It came across as 'Wow!' They were very impressed with
the gravity,"  she said.

As for the people who stand to be on the receiving end of a western
military operation, the Iraqis are being bombarded with radio
broadcasts and leaflets urging them to support Saddam's ouster. U.S.
operatives are even sending e- mails and making phone calls to Iraqi
commanders.

The Americans and their allies dropped 28 million leaflets on Iraq
during the 1991 war. For the sequel, 80 million already have been
dropped.


________________________________________
Vernon Stagg B.Sc, B.Comp (Hons)
Ph.D. Candidate
School of Information Technology
Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria
Australia,    3217

email : vstagg () deakin edu au
web   : http://www.infowar.com.au
________________________________________



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