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Army Psy-Ops focussing on American Public

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Fri, 30 Dec 2005 23:27:30 -0800 (PST)

Army Psy-Ops focussing on American Public

 

 

 

 

Pentagon propaganda program orders soldiers to promote Iraq war

while home on leave

*By DOUG THOMPSON

Publisher, Capitol Hill Blue*

Dec 29, 2005, 05:44

<http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/printer_7918.shtml>*

 

 

Good soldiers follow orders and hundreds of American military men

and women returned to the United States on holiday leave this month

with orders to sell the Iraq war to a skeptical public.

 

The program, coordinated through *a Pentagon operation dubbed

" Operation Homefront, " ordered military personnel to_ give interviews

to their hometown newspapers, television stations and other media

outlets and praise the American war effort in Iraq.

_*

 

Initial reports back to the Pentagon deem the operation a success

*_with dozens of front page stories in daily_* and weekly newspapers

around the country along with upbeat reports on local television stations.

 

" We've learned as a military how to do this better, " Captain David

Diaz, a military reservist, told his hometown paper, The Roanoke (VA)

Times.

" My worry is that we have the right military strategy and

political strategies now but the patience of the American public is

wearing thin. "

 

When pressed by the paper on whether or not his commanding

officers told him to talk to the press, Diaz admitted he was

" encouraged " to do so.

 

So reporter Duncan Adams asked:

 

" Did Diaz return to the U.S. on emergency leave with an agenda --

to offer a positive spin that could help counter growing concerns

among Americans about the U.S. exit strategy? How do we know that's

not his strategy, especially after he discloses that superior officers

encouraged him to talk about his experiences in Iraq? "

 

Replied Diaz:

 

" You don't. I can tell you that the direction we've gotten from on

high is that there is a concern about public opinion out there and

they want to set the record straight. "

 

Diaz, an intelligence officer, knows how to avoid a direct answer.

Other military personnel, however, tell Capitol Hill Blue privately

that the pressure to " sell the war " back home is enormous.

 

" I've been promised an early release if I do a good job promoting

the war, " says one reservist who asked not to be identified.

 

In interviews with a number of reservists home for the holidays, a

pattern emerges on the Pentagon's propaganda effort. Soldiers are

encouraged to contact their local news media outlets to offer

interviews about the war. A detailed set of talking points encourages

them to:

 

--Admit initial doubts about the war but claim conversion to a

belief in the American mission;

 

--Praise military leadership in Iraq and throw in a few words of

support for the Bush administration;

 

--Claim the mission to turn security of the country over to the

Iraqis is working;

 

--Reiterate that America must not abandon its mission and must

stay until the " job is finished. "

 

--Talk about how " things are better " now in Iraq.

 

" My worry is that we have the right military strategy and

political strategies now but the patience of the American public is

wearing thin, "

Diaz told The Roanoke Times.

 

" It's way better now (in Iraq). People are friendlier. They seem

more relaxed, and they say, 'Thank you, mister,' " Sgt. Christopher

Desierto told his hometown paper, The Maui News.

 

But soldiers who are home and don't have to return to Iraq tell a

different story.

 

" I've just been focused on trying to get the rest of these guys

home, " says Sgt. Major Floyd Dubose of Jackson, MS, who returned home

after 11 months in Iraq with the Mississippi Army National Guard's

155th Combat Brigade.

 

*_And the Army is cracking down on soldiers who go on the record

opposing the war.

 

Specialist Leonard Clark, a National Guardsman, was demoted to

private and fined $1,640 for posting anti-war statements on an

Internet blog_*.

 

Clark wrote entries describing the company's commander as a " glory

seeker " and the battalion sergeant major an " inhuman monster " . His

last entry before the blog was shut down told how his fellow soldiers

were becoming increasingly opposed to the US operation in Iraq.

 

*_ " The message is clear, " says one reservist who is home for the

holidays but has to return and asked not to be identified. " If you

want to get out of this man's Army with an honorable (discharge) and

full benefits you better not tell the truth about what is happening

in-country. "

_*

But Sgt. Johnathan Wilson, a reservist, got his honorable

discharge after he returned home earlier this month and he's not

afraid to talk on the record.

 

*/ " Iraq is a classic FUBAR, " he says. " The country is out of

control and we can't stop it. Anybody who tries to sell a good news

story about the war is blowing it out his ass. We don't win and

eventually we will leave the country in a worse shape than it was when

we invaded. " /**/

© Copyright 2005 by Capitol Hill Blue

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