Military Intelligence PSYOP Operations In Iraq Cost $24 Million A Year

When they write the history books about how the war in Iraq was lost, they'll need to include a chapter on the role of military intelligence PSYOP operations. These cost $24 million a year and strangely seem to find a willing partner in the MSM to carry their message to the domestic U.S. audience.

Interestingly Army General George W. Casey describes the U.S. home audience as one of the major targets of these PSYOP operations. Part of the military intelligence effort is the selling of the war to the American public.

A good example is a new "outtakes" tape of Iraqi Al Qaeda leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who didn't seem to know how to operate his semiautomatic weapon in his latest propaganda video as well was wearing some Chinese made, American brand tennis shoes. The role of the military intelligence releasing this video to news outlets has little to do with the war other than to attempt to reinforce some sort of military image that the Iraq War had a great deal to do with the War On Terrorism.

The problems is that the Al Qaeda organization in Iraq probably involves no more than 1,000 fighters, only about 500 of whom are probably foreign fighters. They are not even the major portion of the insurgent forces causing violence in Iraq. There are perhaps as many as 15,000 more Sunni fighters, mainly Baathists and thousands more Shia militia groups such as the Badr and Wolf Brigades who are even members of the new Iraqi government and hold provincial governorships as well. Even some radical clerics such as Sadr have their own militia as well. These militia groups are likely responsible for the bulk of violence against Sunni citizens, and the Sunni fighters are most likely for the bulk of the violence against Shiites. This has led to 100,000 citizens living in refugee camps within the last few weeks.

The military intelligence PSYOP operations have managed to create some tribal Sunni fighter violence against Al Qaeda, most notably in the Anbar province, thanks to extensive leaflet and radio propaganda coming from military intelligence sources. But it seems like a major role of military intelligence is to largely play down the overwelming source of local and homegrown violence in Iraq, and instead play up the saging support for the war by using whatever Al Qaeda link to violence that military intelligence that can be found.

The more that the Al Qaeda link is played up in Iraq, then it quiets down critical U.S. public sentiment about Donald Rumsfeld and the Administration's role in the war. This certainly does little to win the war, and only keeps the war on the same course and avoids any major change in policy. While sectarian violence only adds more and more refugees afraid to live in their homes, and fighting between Sunni and Shiite groups only continues, the evolving justification claim of the Bush Administration for the war as having something to do with the War On Terrorism is only given a boost by spending by military intelligence and a willing partner in the MSM.

Since the creation of Iraq in 1922 by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, there has been problems with a sectarian conflict in Iraq. But too much MSM newscoverage of any Al Qaeda link information, including the silly video of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who is functionally illiterate and has very limited ability to be able to read or write, having trouble operating his rifle or wearing American brand tennis shoes, and only sends an inaccurate message to the homeland American audience that does little to foster understanding of the long standing sectarian conflict that makes Iraq very difficult to govern or to stabilize. Ridding the world of Al Qaeda is certainly a major goal. But Al Qaeda lacks the power to overthrow the government in Iraq, but Shiite militia groups certainly are in a real position to do such harm and turn Iraq back to some cruel dictatorship and only continue the cycle of sectarian violence.