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#REDIRECT [[Abu Musab al-Zarqawi]]
[[Image:Zarqawi.jpg|thumb|right|Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.]]

The '''Zarqawi PSYOP program''' refers to a US [[Psychological operations]] program, or propaganda campaign, exaggerating the importance of [[Al Zarqawi]] in [[Al Qaeda]] and the [[Iraq insurgency]].

The program was allegedly primarily aimed at, but not limited to, the "Iraqi and Arab media" along with the "U.S. Home Audience," which was part of a "broader propaganda campaign."<ref name="WaPo">[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/09/AR2006040900890.html Military Plays Up Role of Zarqawi - Jordanian Painted As Foreign Threat To Iraq's Stability] By Thomas E. Ricks, The [[Washington Post]], April 10, 2006</ref><ref name="Salon">[http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2006/06/15/zarqawi/ "Mission Accomplished" in a business suit - Ignoring U.S. intelligence, Bush inflated Zarqawi, then made a pointless trip to Iraq to pose as a heroic dragon slayer. It doesn't work anymore] by [[Sidney Blumenthal]], [[Salon]], June 15, 2006</ref><ref name="CounterPunch1">[http://www.counterpunch.org/vanbergen06132006.html Was There a Legal Basis for His Assassination? The Story Behind Zarqawi's Death] by Jennifer van Bergen, [[CounterPunch]], June 12, 2006</ref><ref name="EP">[http://editorandpublisher.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&urlID=17866381&partnerID=60 A U.S. 'Propaganda' Program, al-Zarqawi, and 'The New York Times'] By Greg Mitchell, [[Editor & Publisher]], April 10, 2006</ref><ref name="Asheville_Global_Report ">[http://www.agrnews.org/?section=archives&cat_id=22&article_id=540 US military plays up role of Zarqawi] by Greg White, Asheville Global Report, April 13-20, 2006 </ref><ref name="Global_Research">[http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0606/S00126.htm Who was Abu Musab al Zarqawi?] by Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, June 09, 2006,</ref><ref name="CounterPunch2">[http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick06092006.html America Put Him in the Big Time The Short, Strange Career of Abu Masab al-Zarqawi] by Patrick Cockburn, Counterpunch, June 9, 2006</ref><ref name="GRca">[http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHO20060418&articleId=2275 Who is behind "Al Qaeda in Iraq"? Pentagon acknowledges fabricating a "Zarqawi Legend"] by Michel Chossudovsky, [[GlobalResearch]], April 18, 2006</ref><ref name="RollingStone">[http://www.rollingstone.com/nationalaffairs/?p=58 Hyping Zarqawi] by Tim Dickinson, [[Rolling Stone]], April 12, 2006</ref>

One of the presented goals was to alienate local citizens from him by portraying him as a foreigner and key actor in the insurgency.<ref name="WaPo"/> However, [[Sidney Blumenthal]] reported that, according to a "military source," this campaign ultimately revolved around "domestic political reasons."<ref name="Salon"/>

Writing for [[UPI]], Jennifer Schultz reported that terrorism expert [http://www.lorettanapoleoni.com/ Loretta Napoleoni] stated that the US created a myth which resulted in those fabrications becoming a [[self-fulfilling prophecy]].<ref name="Schultz">[http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/111405B.shtml Claim: US Created al-Zarqawi Myth] By Jennifer Schultz, UPI, November 10, 2005</ref><ref name="Napoleoni">[http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/files/story3264.php Profile of a Killer] By Loretta Napoleoni, Foreign affairs</ref><ref name="Napoleoni_2">[http://www.antiwar.com/orig/napoleoni.php?articleid=7988 The Myth of Zarqawi] by Loretta Napoleoni, November 11, 2005</ref>

==Program==
[[Image:PSYOP Structure.JPG|thumb|right|400px|U.S. Army PSYOP Force structure]]

In [[October]], [[2004]], The [[Telegraph]] and [[The Age]] reported that, according to a U.S. military intelligence agent, the U.S. was paying $10,000 to individuals in order to pass for fact the fiction and suppositions regarding Zarqawi.<ref name="TG">[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/10/04/wirq04.xml How US fuelled myth of Zarqawi the mastermind] By Adrian Blomfield, Telegraph, October 4, 2004</ref><ref name="Age">[http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/10/01/1096527932416.html Doubt over Zarqawi's role as ringleader] By Adrian Blomfield, [[The Age]], October 2, 2004</ref><ref name="Spiked">[Blowing up Zarqawi - How the coalition transformed a failed fringe fanatic into The World’s Most Dangerous Terrorist] by Brendan O'Neill, Spiked, October 5, 2004 </ref>

The [[Washington Post]] reported on [[April 10]], [[2006]], that the role of Zarqawi was magnified by the [[Pentagon]] in a [[psychological operations]] campaign started in 2004. In the words of the Washington Post:
<blockquote>''For the past two years, U.S. military leaders have been using Iraqi media and other outlets in Baghdad to publicize Zarqawi's role in the insurgency. The documents explicitly list the "U.S. Home Audience" as one of the targets of a broader propaganda campaign.''<ref name="WaPo"/></blockquote>

The article goes on to explain that a slide created for a briefing by Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr,
<blockquote>''describes the "home audience" as one of six major targets of the American side of the war.''</blockquote>
Nevertheless, the slide did not specifically assert the program targeted U.S. citizens. Although other parts of the briefing did suggest it was directed at the U.S. media to alter the view of the war.

Another slide in the briefing noted a "selective leak" to reporter [[Dexter Filkins]], about a letter boasting of suicide attacks in Iraq and allegedly written by Zarqawi. He used that information for an article<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/09/international/middleeast/09INTE.html?ei=5007&en=7123c973144a2705&ex=1391662800&partner=USERLAND&pagewanted=print&position= U.S. Says Files Seek Qaeda Aid in Iraq Conflict] By DEXTER FILKINS, New York Times, February 9, 2004</ref> in the [[New York Times]].<ref name="EP"/><ref name="RollingStone"/> Contacted by the Post Filkins commented he was skeptical at the time, and still is, about the document's authenticity.<ref name="WaPo"/><ref name="EP"/>

According to Sidney Blumenthal, in an article for [[Salon.com|Salon]], a military source told him that, for ultimately "domestic political reasons," [[Donald Rumsfeld]] and the [[White House]] resisted degrading the dramatically inflated image of Zarqawi.<ref name="Salon"/>

Responding to the in the Post reported psychological operations aimed at Americans, Army Col. James A. Treadwell, commander of the U.S. military psyops unit in Iraq, but no longer present as the program was started, said that the US doesn't do that. Another officer commented in the Post that, although all material provided was in Arabic, the campaign probably influenced the view of the [[Mass media|American press]] raising his profile. The Post continues that, according to an officer familiar with the case, this program was not related to another program which was linked to the [[Lincoln Group]].<ref name="WaPo"/><ref>[http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13181 A 2003 Pentagon directive appears to bar a military program that pays Iraqi media to print favorable stories] by Mark Mazzetti, [[Los Angeles Times]], January 27th, 2006</ref>

By focusing on his terrorist activities and status as a foreigner the US tried to inflame Iraqi citizens against him.<ref name="WaPo"/><ref name="RollingStone"/><ref name="CounterPunch1"/> Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the senior commander in charge, remarked, according to the Washington Post:
<blockquote>''"The Zarqawi PSYOP program is the most successful information campaign to date."''<ref name="WaPo"/><ref name="EP"/><ref name="RollingStone"/></blockquote>

Regarding the influence of this program on Al Qaeda [[Jennifer Schultz]]
reports the comments by terrorism expert [[Loretta Napoleoni]]:
<blockquote>The myth of al-Zarqawi, Napoleoni believes, helped usher in al-Qaida's "transformation from a small elitist vanguard to a mass movement."<ref name="Napoleoni"/></blockquote>

==Rise to power==
{{main|Abu Musab al-Zarqawi}}

According to articles in [[Counterpunch]], [[Newsweek]], and [[Asia Times Online]] several incidents turned Abu Musab al-Zarqawi from an unknown and unimportant local terrorist into the well-known voice of Al Qaeda in [[Iraq]].<ref name="CounterPunch2"/><ref name="Newsweek"> [http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13600653/site/newsweek The Myth of Al Qaeda Before 9/11, Osama bin Laden’s group was small and fractious. How Washington helped to build it into a global threat] By [[Michael Hirsh]], [[Newsweek]], June 30, 2006</ref> The Asia Times contends that in February 2003 he was practically unknown outside Jordan.<ref name="Newsweek"/><ref name="ATO">[http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FJ15Ak02.html Zarqawi - Bush's man for all seasons] By Pepe Escobar, Asia Times Online, October 15, 2005</ref> Loretta Napoleoni, a terrorism expert, and and article in Spiked also commented that prior to the [[invasion of Iraq]] his scope was limited to corrupt Arab regimes, most notably [[Jordan]].<ref name="Schultz"/><ref name="Spiked"/> Both Newsweek and the Asia Times continue by commenting that initially he was largely unconnected to Saddam Hussein, and not part of [[bin Laden]]'s group. [[Eric Margolis]], terrorism expert, concurs that he never was part of al Qaeda prior to the [[Iraq war]].<ref name="Margolis">[http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060608/zarqawi_special_060608/20060608/ Zarqawi: From street thug to symbol of holy war] by Sarah Challands, CTV.ca, June 12, 2006</ref> The [[Christian Science Monitor]] reported that one of his operatives stated during interrogation that Zarqawi "is against Al Qaeda."<ref>[http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1016/p12s01-woiq.html The rise and fall of Ansar al-Islam] By Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor, October 16, 2003</ref> Following the allegation he was a link between [[Saddam Hussein]] and [[al Qaeda]] (used as [[casus belli]]<ref name="Salon"/><ref name="Newsweek"/><ref name="ATO"/><ref name="Spiked"/><ref name="AGR">[http://www.agrnews.org/?section=archives&cat_id=31&article_id=820 Questions linger over Zarqawi's death] by Eamon Martin, Asheville Global Report, June 15 - 21, 2006 </ref><ref name="GRca2">[http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHO20060515&articleId=2446 Pentagon PSYOP: "Terror Mastermind" Abu Musab Al Zarqawi is "Incompetent"] by Michel Chossudovsky, GlobalResearch, May 15, 2006</ref>), by [[Colin Powell]] before the [[UN Security Council]] in [[2003]], he became the embodiment of resistance against the US in the Muslim world. Afer [[invasion of Iraq|invading Iraq]] documents were found that showed Hussein's security forces had in fact attempted to apprehend him, contradicting Powell's allegations.<ref name="AGR"/> Also the [[invasion of Iraq]] by the Bush administration became another boost for his popularity, which [[Michael Hirsch]] in Newsweek describes as:
<blockquote>''the Iraq invasion gave Zarqawi a chance to blossom on his own as a jihadi.''<ref name="Newsweek"/></blockquote>
After the capture of [[Saddam Hussein]] the [[Bush administration]] accused him of being behind the continuing mishaps in Iraq, or, as [[Patrick Cockburn]] commented in an editorial for [[Counterpunch Newsletter]]:
<blockquote>''"No sooner had Saddam Hussein been captured than the US spokesmen began to mention al-Zarqawi's name in every sentence."''<ref name="CounterPunch2"/><ref name="AGR"/></blockquote>

Articles in the [[Columbia Journalism Review]], the [[Washington Post]], [[Rolling Stone]], [[Newsweek]] and Counterpunch Newsletter suggest his increased notoriety, as illustrated above, was the result of an orchestrated effort involving [[psychological operations]].<ref name="WaPo"/><ref name="RollingStone"/><ref name="Newsweek"/><ref name="CounterPunch2"/><ref name="CJR">[http://www.cjr.org/issues/2006/3/schulman.asp Mind Games] By Daniel Schulman, [[Columbia Journalism Review]] at [[Columbia University]]'s Graduate [[School of Journalism]]</ref>

The Washington post cites Col. Derek Harvey who said at a meeting by the Army in [[Fort Leavenworth]]:
<blockquote>''"Our own focus on Zarqawi has enlarged his caricature, if you will - made him more important than he really is, in some ways."''<ref name="WaPo"/><ref name="RollingStone"/></blockquote>

[[Jane Arraf]], CNN’s former Baghdad bureau chief, observed that there are discrepancies between what journalist encounter in Iraq ''“and a lot of the comments we see coming out of the administration and the Pentagon.”'' Commenting on this Daniel Schulman for Columbia Journalism Review said:
<blockquote>''... it has become, in part, a contest over the framing of reality, and thus a hall of mirrors for the press.''<ref name="CJR"/></blockquote>

In the wake of his assasination, which had erroneously been reported several times before,<ref>[http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/10-17a-04.asp Zarqawi killed in Iraq?] Balaji Reddy, India Daily, October 16, 2004 </ref><ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29777-2004Mar4.html Leaflet Says Extremist Al-Zarqawi Killed] By LEE KEATH, The [[Associated Press]], March 4, 2004</ref> the U.S. military produced a video showing him to be the opposite of what the [[media]] previously advocated him to be.

==US psychological operations ==
{{see| Psychological operations (United States)| Psychological warfare}}

The US military defines psychological operations, or PSYOP, as:
<blockquote>''planned operations to convey selected information and indicators to foreign audiences to influence the emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of foreign governments, organizations, groups, and individuals.''<ref name="Definition">[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB177/02_psyop-jp-3-53.pdf Doctrine for Joint Psychological Operations] Joint Publication 3-53, 5 September 2003 [[PDF]]</ref></blockquote>

The [[Smith-Mundt Act]], adopted in [[1948]], explicitly forbids information and psychological operations aimed at the US public.<ref name="NSA">[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB177/index.htm Rumsfeld's Roadmap to Propaganda - Secret Pentagon "roadmap" calls for "boundaries" between "information operations" abroad and at home but provides no actual limits as long as US doesn't "target" Americans] by [[National Security Archive]], January 26, 2006</ref><ref name="Lamb">[http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/jfq_pubs/1536.pdf Operations as a core competency] by [[Christopher J. Lamb]], senior fellow in the [[Institute for National Security Studies]] at the [[National Defense University]] and has been Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Resources and Plans.[http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:HsFuKh9AdyUJ:www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/jfq_pubs/1536.pdf+%22Information+Operations+Roadmap%22&hl=nl&ct=clnk&cd=8 HTML version]</ref><ref name="CJR"/> Nevertheless, the current easy access to news and information from around the globe, makes it difficult to guarantee PSYOP programs do not reach the US public. Or, in the words of Army Col. James A. Treadwell, who commanded the U.S. military psyops unit in Iraq in 2003, in the Washington Post:
<blockquote>''There's always going to be a certain amount of bleed-over with the global information environment.''<ref name="WaPo"/></blockquote>
[[Agence France Presse]] reported on U.S. propaganda campaigns that:
<blockquote>''The Pentagon acknowledged in a newly declassified document that the US public is increasingly exposed to propaganda disseminated overseas in psychological operations.'' <ref name="AP">[http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0127-01.htm US Propaganda Aimed at Foreigners Reaches US Public: Pentagon Document] by Agence France Presse, January 27, 2006</ref></blockquote>
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has approved that document, which is called "[[Information Operations Roadmap]]." <ref name="CJR"/><ref name="AP"/> The document acknowledges the Smith-Mundt Act, but fails to offer any way of limiting the effect PSYOP programs have on domestic audiences.<ref name="NSA"/><ref name="Lamb"/><ref name="BBC">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4655196.stm US plans to 'fight the net' revealed] By Adam Brookes, [[BBC]], January 27, 2006 </ref>

Several incidents in 2003 were documented by [[Sam Gardiner]], a sixty-four-year-old retired Air Force colonel, which he saw as information-warfare campaigns that were intended for "foreign populations and the American public." [[Truth from These Podia]],<ref>[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB177/Info%20Operations%20Roadmap%20Truth%20from%20These%20Podia.pdf Truth from These Podia - Summary of a Study of Strategic Influence, Perception Management, Strategic Information Warfare and Strategic Psychological Operations in Gulf II] by [[Sam Gardiner]], Colonel, [[USAF]] (Retired),October 8, 2003, [PDF]</ref> as the treatise was called, reported that the way the [[Iraq war]] was fought resembled a [[political campaign]], stressing the message instead of the truth.<ref name="CJR"/> The [[International Crisis Group]] reported that Zarqawi’s group, and three other groups of in Iraq, were disseminating propaganda in a sophisticated manner.<ref name="CJR"/>

Although the Information Operations Roadmap does not specifically mention the Zarqawi PSYOP program it does show the general dilemma psychological operations pose regarding the effect they potentially have on the US public.<ref name="AP"/> The Asheville Global Report does comment on Zarqawi and contends that the
<blockquote>"military's propaganda program apparently spilled over into the US media."<ref name="AGR"/></blockquote>


==See also==
*[[Abu Musab al-Zarqawi]]
*[[Doublespeak]]
*[[Information Operations Roadmap]]
*[[Iraq war]]
*[[Lincoln Group]]
*[[Newspeak]]
*[[Propaganda]]
*[[Psychological operations (United States)]]
*[[Psychological warfare]]
*[[PSYOP]]
*[[Smith-Mundt Act]]
*[[War on Terrorism]]

{{War on Terrorism}}

==References==
<references/>


[[Category:Psychological warfare]]
[[Category:Propaganda]]
[[Category:Counter-terrorism]]
[[Category:Anti-terrorism policy of the United States]]
[[Category:George W. Bush administration controversies]]
[[Category:2003 Iraq conflict]]
[[Category:Iraqi insurgency| ]]

Revision as of 17:36, 11 March 2007

File:Zarqawi.jpg
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The Zarqawi PSYOP program refers to a US Psychological operations program, or propaganda campaign, exaggerating the importance of Al Zarqawi in Al Qaeda and the Iraq insurgency.

The program was allegedly primarily aimed at, but not limited to, the "Iraqi and Arab media" along with the "U.S. Home Audience," which was part of a "broader propaganda campaign."[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

One of the presented goals was to alienate local citizens from him by portraying him as a foreigner and key actor in the insurgency.[1] However, Sidney Blumenthal reported that, according to a "military source," this campaign ultimately revolved around "domestic political reasons."[2]

Writing for UPI, Jennifer Schultz reported that terrorism expert Loretta Napoleoni stated that the US created a myth which resulted in those fabrications becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.[10][11][12]

Program

U.S. Army PSYOP Force structure

In October, 2004, The Telegraph and The Age reported that, according to a U.S. military intelligence agent, the U.S. was paying $10,000 to individuals in order to pass for fact the fiction and suppositions regarding Zarqawi.[13][14][15]

The Washington Post reported on April 10, 2006, that the role of Zarqawi was magnified by the Pentagon in a psychological operations campaign started in 2004. In the words of the Washington Post:

For the past two years, U.S. military leaders have been using Iraqi media and other outlets in Baghdad to publicize Zarqawi's role in the insurgency. The documents explicitly list the "U.S. Home Audience" as one of the targets of a broader propaganda campaign.[1]

The article goes on to explain that a slide created for a briefing by Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr,

describes the "home audience" as one of six major targets of the American side of the war.

Nevertheless, the slide did not specifically assert the program targeted U.S. citizens. Although other parts of the briefing did suggest it was directed at the U.S. media to alter the view of the war.

Another slide in the briefing noted a "selective leak" to reporter Dexter Filkins, about a letter boasting of suicide attacks in Iraq and allegedly written by Zarqawi. He used that information for an article[16] in the New York Times.[4][9] Contacted by the Post Filkins commented he was skeptical at the time, and still is, about the document's authenticity.[1][4]

According to Sidney Blumenthal, in an article for Salon, a military source told him that, for ultimately "domestic political reasons," Donald Rumsfeld and the White House resisted degrading the dramatically inflated image of Zarqawi.[2]

Responding to the in the Post reported psychological operations aimed at Americans, Army Col. James A. Treadwell, commander of the U.S. military psyops unit in Iraq, but no longer present as the program was started, said that the US doesn't do that. Another officer commented in the Post that, although all material provided was in Arabic, the campaign probably influenced the view of the American press raising his profile. The Post continues that, according to an officer familiar with the case, this program was not related to another program which was linked to the Lincoln Group.[1][17]

By focusing on his terrorist activities and status as a foreigner the US tried to inflame Iraqi citizens against him.[1][9][3] Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the senior commander in charge, remarked, according to the Washington Post:

"The Zarqawi PSYOP program is the most successful information campaign to date."[1][4][9]

Regarding the influence of this program on Al Qaeda Jennifer Schultz reports the comments by terrorism expert Loretta Napoleoni:

The myth of al-Zarqawi, Napoleoni believes, helped usher in al-Qaida's "transformation from a small elitist vanguard to a mass movement."[11]

Rise to power

Main article: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

According to articles in Counterpunch, Newsweek, and Asia Times Online several incidents turned Abu Musab al-Zarqawi from an unknown and unimportant local terrorist into the well-known voice of Al Qaeda in Iraq.[7][18] The Asia Times contends that in February 2003 he was practically unknown outside Jordan.[18][19] Loretta Napoleoni, a terrorism expert, and and article in Spiked also commented that prior to the invasion of Iraq his scope was limited to corrupt Arab regimes, most notably Jordan.[10][15] Both Newsweek and the Asia Times continue by commenting that initially he was largely unconnected to Saddam Hussein, and not part of bin Laden's group. Eric Margolis, terrorism expert, concurs that he never was part of al Qaeda prior to the Iraq war.[20] The Christian Science Monitor reported that one of his operatives stated during interrogation that Zarqawi "is against Al Qaeda."[21] Following the allegation he was a link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda (used as casus belli[2][18][19][15][22][23]), by Colin Powell before the UN Security Council in 2003, he became the embodiment of resistance against the US in the Muslim world. Afer invading Iraq documents were found that showed Hussein's security forces had in fact attempted to apprehend him, contradicting Powell's allegations.[22] Also the invasion of Iraq by the Bush administration became another boost for his popularity, which Michael Hirsch in Newsweek describes as:

the Iraq invasion gave Zarqawi a chance to blossom on his own as a jihadi.[18]

After the capture of Saddam Hussein the Bush administration accused him of being behind the continuing mishaps in Iraq, or, as Patrick Cockburn commented in an editorial for Counterpunch Newsletter:

"No sooner had Saddam Hussein been captured than the US spokesmen began to mention al-Zarqawi's name in every sentence."[7][22]

Articles in the Columbia Journalism Review, the Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Newsweek and Counterpunch Newsletter suggest his increased notoriety, as illustrated above, was the result of an orchestrated effort involving psychological operations.[1][9][18][7][24]

The Washington post cites Col. Derek Harvey who said at a meeting by the Army in Fort Leavenworth:

"Our own focus on Zarqawi has enlarged his caricature, if you will - made him more important than he really is, in some ways."[1][9]

Jane Arraf, CNN’s former Baghdad bureau chief, observed that there are discrepancies between what journalist encounter in Iraq “and a lot of the comments we see coming out of the administration and the Pentagon.” Commenting on this Daniel Schulman for Columbia Journalism Review said:

... it has become, in part, a contest over the framing of reality, and thus a hall of mirrors for the press.[24]

In the wake of his assasination, which had erroneously been reported several times before,[25][26] the U.S. military produced a video showing him to be the opposite of what the media previously advocated him to be.

US psychological operations

Further information: Psychological operations (United States) and Psychological warfare

The US military defines psychological operations, or PSYOP, as:

planned operations to convey selected information and indicators to foreign audiences to influence the emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of foreign governments, organizations, groups, and individuals.[27]

The Smith-Mundt Act, adopted in 1948, explicitly forbids information and psychological operations aimed at the US public.[28][29][24] Nevertheless, the current easy access to news and information from around the globe, makes it difficult to guarantee PSYOP programs do not reach the US public. Or, in the words of Army Col. James A. Treadwell, who commanded the U.S. military psyops unit in Iraq in 2003, in the Washington Post:

There's always going to be a certain amount of bleed-over with the global information environment.[1]

Agence France Presse reported on U.S. propaganda campaigns that:

The Pentagon acknowledged in a newly declassified document that the US public is increasingly exposed to propaganda disseminated overseas in psychological operations. [30]

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has approved that document, which is called "Information Operations Roadmap." [24][30] The document acknowledges the Smith-Mundt Act, but fails to offer any way of limiting the effect PSYOP programs have on domestic audiences.[28][29][31]

Several incidents in 2003 were documented by Sam Gardiner, a sixty-four-year-old retired Air Force colonel, which he saw as information-warfare campaigns that were intended for "foreign populations and the American public." Truth from These Podia,[32] as the treatise was called, reported that the way the Iraq war was fought resembled a political campaign, stressing the message instead of the truth.[24] The International Crisis Group reported that Zarqawi’s group, and three other groups of in Iraq, were disseminating propaganda in a sophisticated manner.[24]

Although the Information Operations Roadmap does not specifically mention the Zarqawi PSYOP program it does show the general dilemma psychological operations pose regarding the effect they potentially have on the US public.[30] The Asheville Global Report does comment on Zarqawi and contends that the

"military's propaganda program apparently spilled over into the US media."[22]


See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Military Plays Up Role of Zarqawi - Jordanian Painted As Foreign Threat To Iraq's Stability By Thomas E. Ricks, The Washington Post, April 10, 2006
  2. ^ a b c d "Mission Accomplished" in a business suit - Ignoring U.S. intelligence, Bush inflated Zarqawi, then made a pointless trip to Iraq to pose as a heroic dragon slayer. It doesn't work anymore by Sidney Blumenthal, Salon, June 15, 2006
  3. ^ a b Was There a Legal Basis for His Assassination? The Story Behind Zarqawi's Death by Jennifer van Bergen, CounterPunch, June 12, 2006
  4. ^ a b c d A U.S. 'Propaganda' Program, al-Zarqawi, and 'The New York Times' By Greg Mitchell, Editor & Publisher, April 10, 2006
  5. ^ US military plays up role of Zarqawi by Greg White, Asheville Global Report, April 13-20, 2006
  6. ^ Who was Abu Musab al Zarqawi? by Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, June 09, 2006,
  7. ^ a b c d America Put Him in the Big Time The Short, Strange Career of Abu Masab al-Zarqawi by Patrick Cockburn, Counterpunch, June 9, 2006
  8. ^ Who is behind "Al Qaeda in Iraq"? Pentagon acknowledges fabricating a "Zarqawi Legend" by Michel Chossudovsky, GlobalResearch, April 18, 2006
  9. ^ a b c d e f Hyping Zarqawi by Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone, April 12, 2006
  10. ^ a b Claim: US Created al-Zarqawi Myth By Jennifer Schultz, UPI, November 10, 2005
  11. ^ a b Profile of a Killer By Loretta Napoleoni, Foreign affairs
  12. ^ The Myth of Zarqawi by Loretta Napoleoni, November 11, 2005
  13. ^ How US fuelled myth of Zarqawi the mastermind By Adrian Blomfield, Telegraph, October 4, 2004
  14. ^ Doubt over Zarqawi's role as ringleader By Adrian Blomfield, The Age, October 2, 2004
  15. ^ a b c [Blowing up Zarqawi - How the coalition transformed a failed fringe fanatic into The World’s Most Dangerous Terrorist] by Brendan O'Neill, Spiked, October 5, 2004
  16. ^ U.S. Says Files Seek Qaeda Aid in Iraq Conflict By DEXTER FILKINS, New York Times, February 9, 2004
  17. ^ A 2003 Pentagon directive appears to bar a military program that pays Iraqi media to print favorable stories by Mark Mazzetti, Los Angeles Times, January 27th, 2006
  18. ^ a b c d e The Myth of Al Qaeda Before 9/11, Osama bin Laden’s group was small and fractious. How Washington helped to build it into a global threat By Michael Hirsh, Newsweek, June 30, 2006
  19. ^ a b Zarqawi - Bush's man for all seasons By Pepe Escobar, Asia Times Online, October 15, 2005
  20. ^ Zarqawi: From street thug to symbol of holy war by Sarah Challands, CTV.ca, June 12, 2006
  21. ^ The rise and fall of Ansar al-Islam By Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor, October 16, 2003
  22. ^ a b c d Questions linger over Zarqawi's death by Eamon Martin, Asheville Global Report, June 15 - 21, 2006
  23. ^ Pentagon PSYOP: "Terror Mastermind" Abu Musab Al Zarqawi is "Incompetent" by Michel Chossudovsky, GlobalResearch, May 15, 2006
  24. ^ a b c d e f Mind Games By Daniel Schulman, Columbia Journalism Review at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism
  25. ^ Zarqawi killed in Iraq? Balaji Reddy, India Daily, October 16, 2004
  26. ^ Leaflet Says Extremist Al-Zarqawi Killed By LEE KEATH, The Associated Press, March 4, 2004
  27. ^ Doctrine for Joint Psychological Operations Joint Publication 3-53, 5 September 2003 PDF
  28. ^ a b Rumsfeld's Roadmap to Propaganda - Secret Pentagon "roadmap" calls for "boundaries" between "information operations" abroad and at home but provides no actual limits as long as US doesn't "target" Americans by National Security Archive, January 26, 2006
  29. ^ a b Operations as a core competency by Christopher J. Lamb, senior fellow in the Institute for National Security Studies at the National Defense University and has been Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Resources and Plans.HTML version
  30. ^ a b c US Propaganda Aimed at Foreigners Reaches US Public: Pentagon Document by Agence France Presse, January 27, 2006
  31. ^ US plans to 'fight the net' revealed By Adam Brookes, BBC, January 27, 2006
  32. ^ Truth from These Podia - Summary of a Study of Strategic Influence, Perception Management, Strategic Information Warfare and Strategic Psychological Operations in Gulf II by Sam Gardiner, Colonel, USAF (Retired),October 8, 2003, [PDF]
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