Ye Olde Rummy's PsyOps

[Justin]

On 2006-01-27T21:30:06+0100, Eugen Leitl wrote:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4655196.stm
> 
> "Psyops messages will often be replayed by the news media for much larger
> audiences, including the American public," it goes on.
>
> The document's authors acknowledge that American news media should not
> unwittingly broadcast military propaganda. "Specific boundaries should be
> established," they write. But they don't seem to explain how.

Empty rhetoric.  The government has no interest in shielding the
American public from propaganda.  In fact, isn't propaganda more
effective at convincing "soft" people living in relative luxury in a
developed nation than it is at convincing freedom fighters -- I mean
terrorists -- and their neighbors in the rest of the world?[0]

Certainly it can make a difference if people in other countries support
your cause, but the much more immediate concern is whether the American
people support it.  They can vote you out of office, or can complain to
Congress which can get your funding cut.  If the American people are
on-board, you can blunder all you want on foreign soil, or on U.S. soil
for that matter.

[0] Who started the "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom
fighter" meme?  I tried to track it down once upon a time and got
several possible sources... notably Margaret Thatcher, William Casey
(deputy dir of the CIA under Reagan), or Reagan himself.  I'm inclined
to believe it was Casey, since leaders often adopt views and sayings of
their underlings to make themselves look smart.

-- 
The six phases of a project:
I. Enthusiasm.         IV. Search for the Guilty.
II. Disillusionment.   V. Punishment of the Innocent.
III. Panic.            VI. Praise & Honor for the Nonparticipants.