Fiction of Marjah as City Was US Information War

[unhappycamper]

Fiction of Marjah as City Was US Information War
Monday 08 March 2010
by: Gareth Porter | Inter Press Service

For weeks, the U.S. public followed the biggest offensive of the Afghanistan War against what it was told was a "city of 80,000 people" as well as the logistical hub of the Taliban in that part of Helmand. That idea was a central element in the overall impression built up in February that Marja was a major strategic objective, more important than other district centres in Helmand.

It turns out, however, that the picture of Marja presented by military officials and obediently reported by major news media is one of the clearest and most dramatic pieces of misinformation of the entire war, apparently aimed at hyping the offensive as a historic turning point in the conflict.

Marja is not a city or even a real town, but either a few clusters of farmers' homes or a large agricultural area covering much of the southern Helmand River Valley.

"It's not urban at all," an official of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), who asked not to be identified, admitted to IPS Sunday. He called Marja a "rural community".

"It's a collection of village farms, with typical family compounds," said the official, adding that the homes are reasonably prosperous by Afghan standards.


Rest of article at: http://www.truthout.org/fiction-marja-city-was-us-information-war57470

[DCBob]

1. Marja was important is because it's a major center for poppy farming..

and main source of funds for the Talibangers.

[Echo In Light]

2. k/r

[bertman]

3. "It's a collection of village farms, with typical family compounds," said the official . . .

Kind of like Vietnam's delta which was a vast agricultural area (the rice basket of Asia some have called it) that surrounded a few population centers.

It was those vast agricultural areas that we could never "pacify" for more than a few months before they became VC areas again. Whack-a-mole at its finest.

But who would have ever thought that the U.S. military might change the character of the place for "propaganda purposes"? Hard to believe ain't it??!!

Recced, but somebody unrecced my rec.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Don't worry

corrected that rec unrec problem.

And somewhere in his grave George Orwell is smiling.

[bertman]

6. Thanks, Nadin.

[bigtree]

5. yep

I doubt most Americans were paying any attention at all though.