Home > US Army hhires firms to sway Afghans and Iraqis with outsourced Propaganda

US Army hhires firms to sway Afghans and Iraqis with outsourced Propaganda

by Open-Publishing - Saturday 11 June 2005
5 comments

Wars and conflicts International USA

Published on Friday, June 10, 2005 by the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Virginia)
Psychological Warfare Effort to be Outsourced
Army command hires three firms to sway Afghans and Iraqis

by James W Crawley

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Special Operations Command has hired three firms to produce newspaper stories, television broadcasts and Web sites to spread American propaganda overseas.

The Tampa-based military headquarters, which oversees commandos and psychological warfare, may spend up to $100 million for the media campaign in the next five years.

In this age of the Internet and instant access, it’s of great concern. If you plant false stories, how can you control where that story goes? You can’t.

Nancy Snow, a propaganda expert at California State University-Fullerton
The Pentagon backed away from a similar campaign in 2002.

The use of contractors in psyops is a new wrinkle. But psychological warfare expert Herb Friedman said he is not surprised.

With only one active-duty and two reserve psyops units remaining, Friedman said, "The bottom line is, they don’t have the manpower."

Federal law prohibits sending propaganda to Americans, and some experts worry that psychological warfare messages, especially disinformation efforts, might blow back to American audiences via the Internet and satellite news channels.

"In this age of the Internet and instant access, it’s of great concern," said Nancy Snow, a propaganda expert at California State University-Fullerton. "If you plant false stories, how can you control where that story goes? You can’t."

Others question whether the money could be better spent.

So far, said defense analyst William Arkin, American propaganda efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan have "produced nothing positive and nothing negative." He suggested the $100 million might be better spent on guns and bullets.

Winning the contracts were Science Applications International Corp., SYColeman Inc. and Lincoln Group Corp.

SAIC, a California-based defense contractor with a major presence in McLean, Va., ran the U.S.-sponsored Iraqi Media Network, a print, radio and television operation, after the fall of Baghdad in April 2003. The firm was criticized for problems and exorbitant costs and declined to bid on the contract renewal.

SYColeman, a subsidiary of L-3 Communications based in Arlington, Va., advertises it created the Army’s Web site honoring the only Medal of Honor winner so far from the Iraq war.

Lincoln, based in Washington and formerly known as Iraqex, provides various services, including public relations, in Iraq.

Spokesmen for the companies referred inquiries to the Pentagon. A Pentagon spokesman referred them to the Tampa command, which said special operations officials were unavailable this week because of a symposium and trade show.

The companies will get their marching orders from a joint psychological operations support element created last year.

Each contractor will receive a minimum of $250,000 during the first year and $500,000 each subsequent year. The entire contract could total $100 million by 2010, records show.

The contract calls for the firms to produce print articles, video and audio broadcasts, Internet sites and novelty items, like T-shirts and bumper stickers, for foreign audiences.

Video products will include newscasts, hour-long TV shows and commercials.

James W. Crawley reports from Washington for Media General News Service.

Forum posts

  • The Bush junta is one big psyops directed against the American people, which has spirited away trillions of dollars from the public treasury and placed therm in private hands.

  • You must understand one thing only. In operation Phoenix in Vietnam the US was involved in Psy Ops against the
    communist North. They did the same, tried to contain the power structure of social progression by marginalizing any
    movents, meetings of leadership from forming. Unfortunatly the US misunderstood as do the current media advertisers
    one important factor about human beings. They are essentially freedom loving beings and when you try to shove crap down
    their throats they will like other beings THROW UP. Thats what happened in Vietnam, what is happening in America now with
    the massive rise in independent INTERNET oriented media, and it is WHAT WILL happen in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places.

    Lies for them to work have to decieve long enough to gain the power and so forth. When the Iraqis see FOUR massive military
    bases. and an OIL PIPE LIne going to another country under US control, it won’t matter what bumper sticker you print, they
    are not BLIND DUMB and STUPID, and thank GOD for that. They are warm, loving, flesh and blood. And no one has the right
    to take their land of their homes from them, their jobs, or their government. Iraq will be a Massive US failure, that is why
    almost all the media from their is embedded. You do not even want to know what is REALLY GOING on their.
    IT is far too sick and pathlogically insane even for then mentally ill.

    7b out. Peace

    • In addition remember that like Rome the corporation oligarchy of the US multinational will fail. Here is why?
      To support military operations in all the countries you plan to steal from you need to dominate the local culture
      and destroy the infrastructure. Then you set up shop and start manufacturing slave goods and slave prices to sell into the
      developed markets. Once you establish thats the population will start the squeal as they do not like to being treated like
      shit by the corporations. You then as the corporations need to contain the situation and will need to hire AND PAY for an
      ARMY which you must LIE to and tell them they are FIGHTING an evil force. You then repeat this technique and use propaganda
      every where the corporations go to extract cheap labor and resoruces. How will they continue to fund this from a single
      upper consuming society without massive propaganda and mind control. They can not. Thie internet is already punching massive
      holes into their propaganda and it will only be a matter of time before they have to implode the economies to regain the power
      over the progressive movements in each of the dominated countries. The people will then GLOBALLY ban together and rise up
      against MONEY and the CORPORATE Oligarchy and the END WILL COME Baby.

      Freedom and TRUE democracy wil be BORN into the WORLD everywhere at the SAME time. Amen

      7b out . Peace.

    • Wow. It must be nice being you... Living in such a dream state... Tell me, what is your Halcyon dosage?