Army's propaganda war collides with reality

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/chitribts/20040709/ts_chicagotrib/armyspropagandawarcollideswithreality&cid=2027&ncid=1473

They are marketers and warriors, selling the new Iraq (news - web sites) to Iraqis. They launch advertising campaigns with all the panache of Madison Avenue and comb hostile neighborhoods to gather tips and pass on messages by word of mouth.


They are the soldiers of the Army's 8th Psychological Operations Battalion, charged with carrying out one of the most difficult campaigns of the Iraq war: persuading Iraqis to buy into America's vision of their land.


"We're limited to the truth," said Army Lt. Col. Mike Ceroli, who heads a psychological operations unit in Iraq. "The first time we lie, we would lose all credibility."


The Army's campaign over the past year is as multifaceted as any media blitz crafted to promote a product or a political ideal. It involves bumper stickers, slick television ads and glossy magazines that promote Iraq as a beacon of Middle East freedom and democracy.


One billboard over a clogged Baghdad traffic circle reads "Iraq--progress, prosperity" in bold, black letters.


But in a city darkened by daily violence and plagued by economic misery, the words seem out of sync. Iraqis in no mood to listen have torn down signs and splashed billboards with black paint.

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[Cocoa]

1. interesting, but only half the story

when will the psy-ops used against us Americans back home be examined?

[xchrom]

2. it's hard to reconcile ''progress, prosperity''

while bombing the hell out of them isn't it?

[young_at_heart]

3. Percentage of happy Iraqis?

I wonder if such a number exists?

[denverbill]

4. Sounds like they've lost all credibility then.

"The first time we lie, we would lose all credibility."
"Iraq--progress, prosperity"

Oh well, what do you expect from the same Armed Services that gave us "Mission Accomplished" over a year ago.

[Dhalgren]

7. The same Armed Forces

that sanctions torturing children. We would have to look in our review mirror with binocculars to see what's left of our "credibility".

[riverwalker]

5. "progress-prosperity"

Nothing about freedom.
Sounds like the sign over the entrance gate at Buchenwald
"Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work makes Freedom)

[teryang]

9. A fundamental principal of advertising

...is that you not know what is on the other side of that wall.

"Arbeit Macht Frei"

The people who work in the kitchen of "fine restaurants" know the truth and therefore would probably never eat there.

This is why the American censorship policy is not to allow pictures of coffins of returning troops. Propaganda is for the people out in the dining room or thinking about going there. You can't fool the people in the kitchen.

In any case the function of psychological warfare on a tactical plain is to sow confusion and fear, not sell a product. If they've bought off on this Karl Rove domestic home version of propaganda they're simply taking orders from incompetent ideologues up the chain of command. That's what the military do, they take orders.

[bemildred]

6. "We're limited to the truth"

"The first time we lie, we would lose all credibility."

Bwaahhahahahahahahahah. Right. Words fail.

[Journeyman]

8. And I have a big sign in my office. . .

says "Happy Home -- Bills Paid, Kids Fed." It sure has us fooled -- uh, strike that -- convinced.

[number6]

10. OH NO ! not that, anything but that !!

"We're limited to the truth," said Army Lt. Col. Mike Ceroli,