First published on ASRM July 2004, republished i On Global Trends, May 26, 2005On Wednesday May 25, Don Rumsfeld addressed a luncheon of the World Affairs Council in Philadelphia.
In that speech he complained that one of the military's new wartime challenges is dealing with global media that can instantly spread around the world, information that may be false or damaging to U.S. interests ABC
Furthermore, he voiced his concern about, "a global Internet with universal access and no inhibitions, e-mail, cell phones, digital cameras wielded by anyone and everyone."
His defenders will no doubt repeat Rumsfeld's own words to defend his opportunistic attack on misuse of information - "information that may be false or damaging to U.S. interests."
However, The United States has never been slow to use self proclaimed information warriors and perception management to further U.S. interests.
That is why perception managers, The Rendon Group, received a $100,000 a month no-bid contract for assistance with the "war on terror." The same group was hired by the CIA to wage a propaganda campaign against Saddam Hussein after the Gulf War, earning them a reported $23 million in the first year alone.
In Afghanistan, John Rendon, (responsible for hundreds of Kuwaitis suddenly being able to get their hands on US flags to welcome US troops), joined a conference call with the Pentagon each morning to decide the message for the day.
Anyone remember the Kuwait baby scam? Years after that deception, Brent Scowcroft, national security advisor at the time said it was, " useful in mobilizing public opinion." For several Congressmen it was also the main factor in voting for the Gulf War.
That deception involved PR company Hill & Knowlton deciding that the best way to get the public to respond to going to war, was to give the public that old emotional heart string puller - mistreatment of infants.
That's why a 15 year old girl weeping her poor little heart out, described how she had witnessed Iraqi soldiers taking babies out of incubators, leaving them on the cold floor to die.
Gets you right in the heart doesn't it. The bastards, lets bomb the crap out of those goddamn sonsovbitches. Let's send John Wayne and Randolph Scott and kick their asses.
What she didn't say, and which was later revealed, was that she had no connection with the hospital, was a member of the Kuwaiti royal family and her dad, the Kuwait Ambassador to the US.
The whole thing was a campaign of misinformation - the sort Rumsfeld is keen to attack when used by others.
Let's look at more recent events. Last year, A survey of Americans showed that 70% believed Hussein/Iraq were tied to Sept 11. It is a tremendous victory for perception management. What is more, many American soldiers believed they were in Iraq because of Sept 11. Dick Cheney was aware of that perception.
In an interview with the, Rocky Mountain News 1/9/2004 the reporter told him, "Sir, I was one of the embedded reporters with the 101st in Iraq" and "It was amazing, yeah. When I was in Iraq, some of the soldiers said they believed they were fighting because of the Sept. 11 attacks and because they thought Saddam Hussein had ties to al Qaeda. You've repeatedly cited such links. I heard your speech in Denver a while back." (seeIraq On The Record )
In response, Cheney gave the following misleading example,
"And you can look at Zarkawi, (Abu Mussab) al-Zarkawi . . . Who was an al-Qaida associate, who was wounded in Afghanistan, took refuge in Baghdad, working out of Baghdad, worked with the Ansar al Islam group up in north-eastern Iraq, that produced a so-called poison factory, a group that we hit when we went into Iraq. . . ."
The statement refers to the Ansar al Islam group in North eastern Iraq. What Cheney fails to mention is that this area was not controlled by Saddam Hussein. Possibly he used the phrase "so called" because when the US Special Forces raided the camp in March 2003, nothing resembling chemical or biological weapons was found. It is a distortion of the facts.
Rumsfeld complains about the use of new technology to spread misinformation. Yet the U.S had no hesitation using "old technology" to spread U.S propaganda in The Middle East, during the 1950s.
Documents held by, National Security Archive at George Washington University, describe an "earlier program to expand and revitalize American propaganda directed at the Middle East, and the methods that were utilized, including graphic displays, manipulation of the news, books, movies, cartoons, activities directed at schools and universities, and exchange programs.
But why am I writing this? How silly of me not to remember the standards the U.S. insist upon with other countries, never apply to the defender of truth, liberty, and justice.
Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved
