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The Zarqawi PSYOP program refers to a US Psyop program, or propaganda campaign, as part of the War on Terror, exaggerating the importance of Al Zarqawi in Al Qaeda and the Iraq insurgency.

The goals was to set up local citizens against him by portraying him as a foreigner and key actor in the insurgency.

Rise to power

Several incidents turned him from an unknown and unimportant individual to the well-known voice of Al Qaeda in Iraq. Following the allegation he was a link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, before the UN Security Council, by Colin Powell in 2003, he became the embodyment of resistance against the US in the Muslim world. Another stimulus for his popularity was the invasion of Iraq by the Bush administratuion. After the capture of Sadam Hussein every mishap was blamed on Zarqawi. The repeated use of his name in relation to the insurgency turns out to be a well orchestrated campaign by the Pentagon.

Program

The Washington Post reported on April 10, 2006, that in order to ensure continued support for the US led War on Terror, the role of Zarqawi was magnified by the Pentagon in a psychological operations campaign started in 2004. In the words of the Washington Post:

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.

Also the Washington post cites Col. Derek Harvey who said at a meeting by the Army in Fort Leavenworth:

"Our own focus on Zarqawi has enlarged his caricature, if you will - made him more important than he really is, in some ways."

Citing an internal memo by Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt the Washington Post states:

"The Zarqawi PSYOP program is the most successful information campaign to date."

According to the same article:

A goal of the campaign was to drive a wedge into the insurgency by emphasizing Zarqawi's terrorist acts and foreign origin, said officers familiar with the program.

Part of the goals was to inflame Iraqi citizens against him.

General Kimmitt was the senior commander in charge of this program. The idea would be to desribe enemies as terrorists that is "enemies of America," in order to mislead the public into supporting the current US administration's Middle East policy. The raison d'être of the continued "War on Terror" is the presence of a casus belli in the form of Al Zarqawi, Osama bin Laden and other "evil doers," as President Bush calls them.

See also

• Al Zarqawi
• Doublespeak
• Information Operations Roadmap
• Iraq war
• Newspeak
• Political Warfare Executive
• Propaganda
• Psychological operations (United States)
• Psychological warfare
• Psychological Warfare Division
• PSYOP

References

1. ^ Military Plays Up Role of Zarqawi By Thomas E. Ricks, The Washington Post, 10 April 2006
2. "Mission Accomplished" in a business suit Ignoring U.S. intelligence, Bush inflated Zarqawi, then made a pointless trip to Iraq to pose as a heroic dragon slayer. It doesn't work anymore, By Sidney Blumenthal, Salon, June 15, 2006
3. ^ Was There a Legal Basis for His Assassination? The Story Behind Zarqawi's Death by Jennifer van Bergen, CounterPunch, June 12, 2006
4. Who was Abu Musab al Zarqawi? by Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, June 09, 2006,
5. ^ America Put Him in the Big Time The Short, Strange Career of Abu Masab al-Zarqawi, Patrick Cockburn, Counterpunch, June 9, 2006
6. ^ Who is behind "Al Qaeda in Iraq"? Pentagon acknowledges fabricating a "Zarqawi Legend" by Michel Chossudovsky, GlobalResearch, April 18, 2006
7. ^ Hyping Zarqawi by Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone, April 11, 2006
8. Updated: Anatomy of a Lie: The Zarqawi Psy-Ops, and an opportune death by DelicateMonster, Daily Kos, June 10, 2006
9. The Death of Zarqawi: Targeting the “US Home Audience” By Sunil K. Sharma, Uruknet, June 8, 2006
10. The Myth of Al Qaeda Before 9/11, Osama bin Laden’s group was small and fractious. How Washington helped to build it into a global threat By Michael Hirsh, Newsweek, June 30, 2006

• Psychological warfare
• Propaganda
• Counter-terrorism
• Anti-terrorism policy of the United States
• George W. Bush administration controversies
• 2003 Iraq conflict
• Iraqi insurgency