[iwar] [fc:Equipment.used.for.propaganda.called.'antiquated']

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-19 07:17:05
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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2001 07:17:05 -0700 (PDT)
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Boston Globe
October 18, 2001
'Psyops' Readiness Doubted
Equipment used for propaganda called 'antiquated'
By David Abel, Globe Staff
Psychological operations, or ''psyops'' in Pentagon parlance, have long been
potent weapons in the US arsenal, from signaling civilians to flee an area
to be bombed in Vietnam to hounding a Panamanian dictator from his hiding
place with loud music.
And military analysts say propaganda is especially critical in a war against
those isolated from Western views and infused with a dogmatic hatred for the
United States.
But is the military up to the task?
A Pentagon report commissioned after psyops failures in the 1999 Kosovo
conflict criticized the military for failing to keep pace with advances in
electronic communications. It also called the equipment the Air Force is now
using to broadcast radio and perhaps TV messages to Afghans ''outdated and
inadequate.''
Other critics question the value of dropping thousands of leaflets on
Afghanistan, a nation where little more than 30 percent of its nearly 27
million people can read.
''The ability for us to get out our message is a huge issue right now in
Afghanistan and in the rest of the Arab world,'' said Jerrold Post, a
professor of political psychology at George Washington University who
specializes in psychological warfare.
''Unfortunately, we have been woefully inadequate in psychological
operations, meaning inhibiting people from entering terrorist groups,
creating dissension in them, facilitating their exit, and reducing support
for them.''
In the May 2000 report by the Defense Science Board Task Force, an advisory
panel that briefs the defense secretary, the authors focused their criticism
on the Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, which
supervises most of the military's psyops and is playing a major role in
overseeing the attack on Afghanistan.
''While the United States is years ahead of its competitors in terms of
military technology, in terms of psyops there are already competitors on par
with or even arguably more sophisticated than the US,'' the authors wrote.
In response to glitches during the Kosovo conflict, in which the military
failed to take over Serbian radio and TV broadcasts, the board called it
ironic that the United States ''leads the world in commercial media
technology and development,'' while its military psychological operations
units maintain an outdated Cold War structure with ''antiquated equipment
and limited financial support.''
A prime example of the problems cited in the report is the equipment used by
Commando Solo, the 193d Special Operations Wing, an Air National Guard unit
based in Middletown, Pa.
The unit's old aircraft have been flying around the borders of Afghanistan
in recent days, beaming radio programs in the local languages of Pashtu and
Dari that disparage Osama bin Laden and call on soldiers to lay down their
arms and defect from the Taliban, special operations officials say.
According to one broadcast released by military officials, a radio message
being beamed from Commando Solo explains to Afghans:
''We have no wish to hurt you, the innocent people of Afghanistan. Stay away
from military installations, government buildings, terrorist camps, roads,
factories, or bridges. If you are near these places, then you must move away
from them. With your help, this conflict can be over soon. And once again,
Afghanistan will belong to you, and not to tyrants or outsiders.''
''This is really nonsense,'' said Jarat Chopra, a professor of international
law at Brown University, who has helped administer similar psyops campaigns
while working for the United Nations in East Timor. ''This is just a shallow
form of propaganda.''
While Afghanistan does not have the jamming ability of Serbs, the US
military will have challenges broadcasting its message. The National Guard
unit's lumbering EC-130 Hercules cargo planes - most of them built in the
1960s - are slow and can't fly at altitudes above 30,000 feet, so they are
unlikely to fly inside Afghanistan. And they use equipment that TV and radio
stations stopped using more than a decade ago.
''They're not using rotary phones, but these planes are definitely no longer
state of the art,'' said Army Lieutenant Colonel Michael M. Smith,
psychological operations policy officer at Special Operations Command. ''In
the military, especially for psyops, as long as it works, it's not
antiquated.''
The Pentagon had planned to upgrade the EC-130 aircraft this summer, but
Commando Solo's one new plane is still being refitted in California, with
much of the same old equipment.
In last year's report, the advisory board also recommended that the Pentagon
upgrade the unit's ability to use special unmanned aircraft that can loiter
over enemy areas for as long as 24 hours without returning. But that's yet
to happen as well.
''Psyops never gets the respect it deserves,'' said Rick Hoffmann, a former
psyops soldier in Vietnam who is now president of the Psychological
Operations Veterans Association in Wilmington, Del. ''The military spends
most of its time on hardware, but there's a lot more necessary to win wars.
Dropping leaflets is only part of it, and can only be helpful in places
where the messages are understood and read properly.''
In Afghanistan, the military is dropping leaflets, a propaganda barrage
delayed because of windy weather conditions, Pentagon officials said.
Similar campaigns were successful in previous wars the nation has fought. In
Vietnam, US planes peppered Viet Cong-controlled areas with playing cards
showing only the ace of spades before bombers and artillery hit. After a
while, just dropping cards from the air was enough to clear an area. In
Iraq, US forces dropped leaflets along the front lines warning soldiers that
heavy bombers were on the way. After delivering on the threat, Iraqi
soldiers surrendered in droves the next time the leaflets were dropped.
On Sunday, B-52 bombers dropped 385,000 dollar-bill sized leaflets over the
northwestern and southeastern regions of Afghanistan, military officials
acknowledged this week.
One leaflet shows a camouflaged soldier in a pastoral setting shaking hands
with a man in traditional Afghan dress. On the front, it says, ''The
partnership of nations is here to help''; on the back, it says, ''The
partnership of nations is here to assist the people of Afghanistan.''
''People are not that stupid,'' Chopra of Brown said. ''Just because people
can't read doesn't mean that they don't have another perspective. The bottom
line is that people are not as shallow as the message that's fed to them.''
But those messages are part of a campaign that includes daily news
conferences by US officials repeating specific messages, interviews with
Arab broadcasters, and nearly 300,000 American-flag-covered food packets
dropped over Afghanistan since the attacks began Oct. 7.
At a Pentagon briefing this week, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
explained the information battle between the United States and its nemesis,
Al Qaeda.
''They are trying to manipulate world opinion in a way that is advantageous
to them and disadvantageous to us,'' he told reporters. ''And we need to do
everything we can to make sure the truth gets out.'' 

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