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Tactical psychological operations = thought police?

11:29 / 01.07.03

"These are pieces of a missile," said Aqeel Ibrahim Ali, 26, who was standing on a concrete slab overlooking the destruction, holding out a box filled with metal shards. "An airplane shot a missile."

However, Sgt Thomas McMurtry, a reservist with the 346th tactical psychological operations company, said there was no evidence that the explosion was caused by a US attack.

"They did it to themselves. Clearly, the physical evidence does not support that (a missile strike) in any way," he told the Associated Press.

-- http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,988731,00.html

Surely this is taking the piss? They couldn't have actually named their press office the "tactical psychological operations company", could they? Is this not a tacturn admission that what ever the press office says should be disregarded as it is said to cause a certain belief which furthers their military aims?

Yes, truth is the first casualty of war, and both the Iraqis and the "Allies" played the game during the war, but no Muslim fundementalist would blow up a mosque. And it is extremely insensitive for the US to claim that they did.

Given the way the US military handled the market bombing in Baghdad (http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,975113,00.html), you have to be suspicious here.

unheimlich manoeuvre

13:00 / 01.07.03

surely it's better that it's called tactical psychological operations rather than some obscure acronym?
aHistory of U.S. Army Psychological Operations here.

Grand Panjandrum of the Pointless

13:09 / 01.07.03

Just found this on the US army website, in the midst of an interesting article on psychological warfare:

'PSYWAR is a major contributor to perception management during conflict. Targeting the military forces of the enemy, PSYWAR attempts to influence the attitudes, emotions, motivations and reasoning of the enemy personnel. Specialists plan PSYWAR activities at all command levels down to division. In addition to the enemy’s military forces, the specialists also concentrate on manipulating the local population and international media.'

So the answer to the q. in the topic abstract would appear to be yes. They've admitted this for a long time- some of the psychological warfare units on the web page were founded in the 1950s. But these guys aren't the real thought police, in my opinion- they're just publicists, who work in the same way as publicists for any other company, and whose success or otherwise is entirely contingent on the climate of the media at large. The real Thought Police are the common or garden civilian media, who largely don't even bother to challenge obvious bits of chutzpah like calling press offices psywar units.

unheimlich manoeuvre

18:45 / 08.07.05

Has this been mentioned before?
Privatization of psychological warfare.

"Contracts Aim to Improve Foreign Opinion of United States"

Washington Post, June 11, 2005

The Pentagon awarded three contracts this week, potentially worth up to $300 million over five years, to companies it hopes will inject more creativity into its psychological operations efforts to improve foreign public opinion about the United States, particularly the military.

"We would like to be able to use cutting-edge types of media," said Col. James A. Treadwell, director of the Joint Psychological Operations Support Element, a part of Tampa-based U.S. Special Operations Command. "If you want to influence someone, you have to touch their emotions."

He said SYColeman Inc. of Arlington, Lincoln Group of the District, and Science Applications International Corp. will help develop ideas and prototypes for radio and television spots, documentaries, or even text messages, pop-up ads on the Internet, podcasting, billboards or novelty items.

...

Surely this will lead to a total lack of accountability?
The interesting thing is that while SYColeman and SAIC (Science Applications International Corp.) are established contractors. Lincoln Group seems to be a shell company...

Some interesting, if somewhat paranoid, information here
indymedia.ie Jun 11 2005,

Moon of Alabama. June 13, 2005

Tabitha Tickletooth

09:47 / 09.07.05

I find this deeply disturbing - not because it reveals something we didn't know about what a military press office does. But it does seem to say something about what they think either of themselves or of us.

I can't find any 'at least' about them not hiding behind an acronym anymore - why aren't they?? Have they come to the conclusion that their propoganda and manipulation are now so transparent that they can't be bothered to make even a cosmetic attempt to disguise them - in which case, why bother continuing to exist (unless, as suggested above, overtly drawing attention to this prevents us from looking at manipulation elsewhere)? Or have they reached conclusions about the gullibility/uncritical acceptance/stupidity of the media consuming public which make them confident that enough of the population won't know/consider/question what the name means? Either way, I'd agree it's pretty alarming.

16:23 / 09.07.05

While I have no argument concerning the US military's ability to infinitely spin propaganda, the following statement couldn't be more patently false:

"Yes, truth is the first casualty of war, and both the Iraqis and the "Allies" played the game during the war, but no Muslim fundementalist would blow up a mosque. And it is extremely insensitive for the US to claim that they did."

Is that a fact?

AUG 30, 2003: Four men have been arrested in connection with Friday's car bomb blast in Najaf which killed at least 95 people... The blast happened as hundreds of people were leaving the mosque after Friday prayers.The force of the explosion left a 1 metre (3.5 foot) crater in the street outside and destroyed at least two buildings across the road. Part of the entrance to the mosque is said to have collapsed on the crowd, trapping many people.

**********

FEB 19, 2005: Attacks on Shi'ite targets in and around Baghdad killed at least 35 people just a day after the majority community was confirmed as the new political power in Iraq for the first time in the country's history. Yesterday's explosions, which wounded more than 50 others, occurred as worshippers marked the first of two days of mourning in the Shi'ite ceremony of Ashura, bringing back grim memories of the bloodbath that marred last year's commemoration.

The deadliest blast occurred at a Shiite mosque in southern Baghdad, killing 17 people, police and medics said.

********

APR 23, 2005: A bomb exploded near a Shiite mosque in Abu al-Khasib, a town near Basra in southern Iraq. Two charred bodies were pulled from a destroyed car and two Iraqis were injured, said police Col. Karim al-Zeidi. It wasn't immediately clear whether the vehicle had been carrying the bomb.

The US is not the sole source of violence in this conflict (though it is the agent of instigation and continued aggravation). But you are absolutely incorrect if your posit is that Muslims would not attack other Muslim holy sites and/or mosques, or for that matter, other Muslims. To Takfiri Wahhabists all bets are off. I would suggest you read up a bit on the subject and the long history of conflict between Shia and Sunnis in Iraq before you make another erroneous statement like the one above.

unheimlich manoeuvre

16:14 / 10.07.05

(Hieronymus, sorry I should have said I was bumping a thread from 2003.)

I agree that mosh's initial post is a gross oversimplication. My hope had been to discuss the corporatization of psychological warfare.

Tabitha Tickletooth - Or have they reached conclusions about the gullibility/uncritical acceptance/stupidity of the media consuming public which make them confident that enough of the population won't know/consider/question what the name means? Either way, I'd agree it's pretty alarming.

Yes. What mainly worries me is the uncritical acceptance of Big Business control of politics. It is not acceptable to have Social Security or psychological operations in the hands of unaccountable unelected corporations.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

18:47 / 10.07.05

what are the essential differences between psychological manipulation by private business for the purposes of the military versus for marketing/advertising/public relations?

marketing tactics include encouraging children to nag their parents to buy product X; presenting invented "problems" that X solves, and using word play and rhetorical devices to mislead (among lots of others). Simple examples, I'm afraid, but I have a cold.

Is it any less frightening that public relations firms (mostly from the US if I recall correctly) worked to uphold Union Carbide's good name in India after the poison gas leak in Bhopal? or buffed up Manuel Noriega's image well before the US removed him from Panama? or renamed "toxic sludge" as "biosolids" in order to sell it to Midwest America as fertilizer for food crops?

tactical psychological operations have long been used to manipulate public opinion and information, without feeling the need to hide. In Washington DC, the political pundits gather at "spin alley." Not exactly a furtive namesake.

why does this surprise anyone with the US Military?

or did I miss something?

>pablo

Keith, like a scientist

20:41 / 11.07.05

wait, wait, wait. I don't want to defend the military but i don't think the Tactical Psychological Operations Company is the military press office.

they conduct psychological operations against the enemy. like blasting rock music at Noreaga or dropping leaflets, etc.

right?

They aren't in charge of public relations to the US public or the world. This is strictly warfare, right?

unheimlich manoeuvre

23:26 / 11.07.05

tenix - you're probably right.

they conduct psychological operations against the enemy.

Time. Jun. 13, 2005

JPSE (Joint Psyops Support Element) director Jim Treadwell told Time he eventually wants to send those units into Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, where they would produce commercial-quality television ads, radio spots, websites and printed material to burnish the U.S.'s image in those regions.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

04:57 / 12.07.05

k

so they're not a press office,

however, they're still using psychological tactics in order to achieve their ends - and it still feels similar to manipulation used in contexts outside of the theatres of war.

pamphlets to counter Islamic "propaganda," or advertising campaigns to counter environmental "propaganda."

I think it's an interesting indication of how deeply technologies and tactics developed in a military context are adopted by commercial interests, including propaganda and the manipulation of information.

and it kinda makes me shudder.

>pablo

21:36 / 26.07.05

Psy war has existed since the dawn of the governmet but information-wise has speeded up due to the acceleration of information loops within the last 2 World Wars. Propaganda comes in many forms - Black, Grey and White Informations. Spindoctors are people who can "spin" an invisible frame into any given insinuated context to usually justify an agenda. Cybernetics - the art of Information Processing they call it. Nothing short of total infromation war, look at Hakim Bey and Noam Chomsky for titbits on that. War exists as information first before the flesh sacrifices happen - it's the done way and it will exist for along time. That's all folks!

01:15 / 28.07.05

I'm in favor of psychological operations as long as they're being conducted against the enemy and not part of some twisted PR game. The bottom line is that soldiers prefer not to get shot. If the military can weaken an adversary through a disinformation campaign then that's great- it means less casualties on both sides.

00:13 / 30.07.05

In a Wargame In-Situ there seems from my personal perspective no winners. The Egregore of Capital ushers through - it all comes down and hard to the Benjamins!!! Call me Jaded but c'mon look at the current situation within the Middle East it seems fucked!!! On one side oil mad military fascisto's and the other power mad self-determinist Jihadders who only want to see every drop of Blue Eyed Blood on the floor - Fear and Terror Stylee. Most people only want to get told what to think by others i.e. the Media Machine. I think America which seems to have appointed itself as the self-appointed leader of the Global Terroritories quite basically sucks turds from a well oiled Nasty Egregore. The UN seem henchmen for these interests - it is shit!!! Most people are ill-informed and can't deal with the Situation within a Global Logistic Perspective. The Western World has bred a House of Cards which seems on the brink. Bush and his puppets and his masters c'mon they aint what they like to potray themselves as!!! They're Masters of Deceptions!!!!

00:33 / 31.07.05

Yeah, totally.