Odds are even in the 'information' war

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But in an increasingly shrinking and highly interconnected infosphere, such distinctions are fast disappearing. A housewife in Ames, Iowa, or Hoboken, New Jersey, with a few clicks of a mouse, can reach the website of any newspaper in the Middle East that might be carrying a story planted by the US military as part of its information operations. American politicians are likely to get quite upset at the prospects of the military conducting propaganda campaigns that would also wrongly influence the thinking of the American people. The concern inside Washington is how to remain believable at home and abroad at the same time. A paradox here is that the requirements of believability for the domestic and foreign audiences are markedly different.

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As if the presence of the Arab television network al-Jazeera was not enough of a headache for the US, there emerged al-Manar, a television channel that broadcasts the perspectives of the Lebanese Hezbollah, a Muslim militant group. Al-Manar's website contains the following statement: "Al-Manar is the first Arab establishment to stage an effective psychological warfare against the Zionist enemy. Political, cultural and social affairs are of special importance to the station's programs. Most important is the struggle with the Zionist enemy. In its course of work, al-Manar focuses on live talk shows and dialogue programs in which it makes sure to bring out different thoughts and beliefs, in addition to the participation of the viewers in the dialogues." Al-Manar was given world-class publicity last week when French Prime Minister Jean Pierre Raffarin labeled it "anti-Semitic" and incompatible with French values. He announced that he would seek to suspend it legally. Then, this Monday, militant Palestinian group Hamas released a video showing the actual digging of a tunnel in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory. Hamas later blew up that tunnel, killing four Israeli soldiers and injuring others. The video also contained scenes of the actual explosion and the last handshake of two suicide bombers who blew themselves up in that explosion. The Musab al-Zarqawi group of insurgents has also been releasing videos showing the slaughter of hostages and a number of other terrorist acts in Iraq.

The problem for the US military is how to keep separate public-affairs campaigns, which are based on nothing but truth, and information operations, which are in essence propaganda campaigns. In fact, the crossing of the Rubicon has already taken place, when General George W Casey Jr, the ranking US commander in Iraq, last summer approved the combining of the command's day-to-day public-affairs operations with combat psychological and information operations into a "single communication office". That development is still not free of controversy and concern, however. General Richard B Myers, the chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed his unease about "the risks of mingling the military public affairs too closely with information operations", since it has the potential of compromising the credibility of the US force commanders. However, the driving force on this issue in Iraq is the need for flexibility to combat the insurgency, whose strength and potency do not seem to be subsiding.

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In this continuing battle of propaganda, the greatest disadvantage for the United States is that the intended targets - the masses in the world of Islam - are becoming increasingly sophisticated. They also are aware that the United States as well as the Islamists are dishing out information that contains only elements of truth. But they are likely to be more receptive to the propaganda from the Islamist side than to that coming from the Americans. That standard statement about how human beings process information helps to explain the situation here. We believe or reject "fact" or "fiction" on the basis of whether it fits or does not fit into our own respective frames of reference; whether such information/disinformation complements or contradicts our fears, fancies, aspirations and nightmares. Regarding all these variables, the United States continues to face an uphill battle in the world of Islam, its technological sophistication and its psychological prolificacy about inventing new psychological-warfare techniques notwithstanding.

Asia Times