Zarqawi PSYOP program: Difference between revisions

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	The '''Zarqawi PSYOP program''' refers to a US ] program, or propaganda campaign exaggerating the importance of ] in ] and the ].

	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"> By Thomas E. Ricks, The ], April 10, 2006</ref><ref name="Salon"> by ], ], June 15, 2006</ref><ref name="CounterPunch1"> by Jennifer van Bergen, ], June 12, 2006</ref><ref name="CounterPunch2"> by Patrick Cockburn, Counterpunch, June 9, 2006</ref><ref name="RollingStone"> by Tim Dickinson, ], April 11, 2006</ref>

	The presented goal was to alienate local citizens from him by portraying him as a foreigner and key actor in the insurgency.<ref name="WaPo"/>

	==Program==
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	The ] reported on ], ], that the role of Zarqawi was magnified by the ] in a ] 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 briefings 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> By DEXTER FILKINS, New York Times, February 9, 2004</ref> in the ].<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"/>

	According to Sidney Blumenthal, in an article for ], a military source told him that, for ultimately "domestic political reasons," ] and the ] 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 ] 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 ].<ref name="WaPo"/>

	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="RollingStone"/></blockquote>

	==Rise to power==
	{{main\|Abu Musab al-Zarqawi}}
	Prior to the involvement of Zarqawi in the Iraqi insurgency, he was jailed in Jordan for attempting to overthrow the government. He was arrested while in possession of explosives and given a 5 year sentence. Upon release from the Jordanian prison in 1999, Zarqawi's involvement in an attempt to blow up the Radisson SAS hotel in Jordan was exposed and he fled the country. According to court testimony by Zarqwai followers he was able to secure funds from al-Qaeda to setup a training camp near Herat. <ref name="WPBio">{{cite news \| title=Al-Zarqawi's Biography \| date=], ] \| publisher=] \| url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/08/AR2006060800299.html?nav=rss_world/africa }}</ref>

	Several incidents turned him from an unknown and unimportant indicidual into the well-known voice of Al Qaeda in ].<ref name="CounterPunch2"/><ref name="Newsweek"> By ], ], June 30, 2006</ref> Following the allegation he was a link between ] and ] (used as ]<ref name="Salon"/><ref name="Newsweek"/>, by ] before the ] in ], he became the embodiment of resistance against the US in the Muslim world. Then the ] by the Bush administration became another boost for his popularity, which ] 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 ] the ] accused him of being behind the continuing mishaps in Iraq, or, as ] 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"/></blockquote>

	Articles in the ], ], ] and Counterpunch Newsletter suggest his increased notoriety, as illustrated above, was the result of an orchestrated effort involving ].<ref name="WaPo"/><ref name="RollingStone"/><ref name="Newsweek"/><ref name="CounterPunch2"/>

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



	==Quotes==
	The Washington post cites Col. Derek Harvey who said at a meeting by the Army in ]:
	<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>

	==See also==
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	{{War on Terrorism}}

	==References==
	<references/>

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Latest revision as of 17:37, 11 March 2007

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Abu Musab al-Zarqawi