Real propaganda

About a month ago, ISAF released a "Code of Taliban Conduct" (officially "Afghanistan Islamic Emirate Rules and Regulations for Mujahidin" as translated from the Pashto original). At the time, it was rightly censured by spokesman BGen Eric Tremblay as propaganda:

A new Taliban code of military conduct that tells fighters to limit suicide attacks and avoid killing civilians is a sham that doesn't reflect the true nature of the insurgents, NATO and Afghan officials said.

The code, entitled "Taliban 2009 Rules and Regulations Booklet," is believed to have been published in May and distributed to fighters. Copies have been seized in operations throughout the country, NATO spokesman Brig. Gen. Eric Tremblay said Wednesday.

It appeared the code was designed to affirm the authority of Taliban leader Mullah Omar and to present the movement as a credible military force based on ideals and not as a loose collection of criminal bands as portrayed by the government.

"It seems to be a form of propaganda to try to show there is a central control over the insurrection," Tremblay said.

The requirement for Taliban fighters to respect the rules of war contradicts the reality on the ground, Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi said, noting that Taliban fighters captured and beheaded an Afghan soldier this week in the eastern Paktika region.

Tremblay said insurgents have conducted at least 90 suicide bombings this year, and at least 40 percent of the victims were civilians. He also said that insurgents traffic children to use them as unknowing suicide bombers, and have destroyed at least 40 schools this year.

Taliban spokesmen were not immediately available for comment Wednesday.

When it comes to suicide bombings, the relevant passage is Section 7, Paragraph 41 of the supposed code:



Well, surprise, surprise: yesterday's VBIED attack in the city of Kandahar killed at least 41, and wounded over 80 more people. All of them were civilians. Every single one.

And yet still, in the AP piece above, you read the phrase "Taliban spokesmen were not immediately available for comment..." What if these lying sacks of shit had been available for comment, folks? Would we have been reading their misinformation in black and white, juxtaposed credibly against BGen Tremblay's words in a pathetic bow to "balanced reporting" - like somehow both should be weighed equally? You bet we would.

I'm tired of it. I'm sick and tired of our media giving them a soapbox from which to proclaim what is clearly, plainly, and obviously pure propaganda designed to attack our will as part of a well planned and executed information operations campaign. I'm tired of our journalists willfully ignoring the fact that they're not just observing the war, they're affecting it with their reporting. I'm bone-tired of them refusing to take steps to ensure their powerful voice isn't used against the very system of government that allows them such unfettered speech in the first place.

The Chief of the Land Staff's Counter-Insurgency Operations manual recognizes the use of western media as a weapon against domestic public will:

Specifically, insurgents will try to capitalize on the role public opinion plays in democracies, and will deliberately stage events and coordinate operations to undermine the will of domestic audiences of campaigning nations in order to cease their participation in the campaign.

...

Domestic public opinion can and will be targeted a number of ways, including media releases and interviews with Western media outlets, attacks timed and coordinated to coincide with specific events in coalition countries, and strategies aimed at causing rates of attrition unacceptable to coalition members.

As a guy who invests a lot of time and energy into watching both the war and the media's portrayal of it, that sounds pretty much spot on to me.

Do we, the Canadian public, need to have some understanding of what motivates the insurgents to behave they way they do? Certainly. But for our own media to allow themselves to be so blatantly manipulated frustrates me to no end.

Now, they'll argue they can't take sides and that they can't give one point of view more weight than another. Bullshit. That's like having a broken leg and giving equal credence to the opinions of your doctor and your six year old daughter on the matter: one is credible on the subject, and one isn't.

And for God's sake, don't tell me our own government is just as bad putting out propaganda. Don't even start.

Yes, they're going to tell us about the successes. Yes, they're going to articulate an argument that puts Canadian efforts in the best possible light. In a democracy like ours, government policy eventually has to answer to the public at the polling booth, and that means public support is a vital component of public policy. Which makes building it fair game for government communications.

But unlike the Taliban, our government isn't going to flat-out lie to us. The Canadian Forces has a code of conduct as well, but we actually live by ours:

Semrau was in Helmand province when the alleged incident occurred, as one of several military mentors there while a violent three-day defence of Lashkar Gah was carried out.

During the battle, a group of Afghan and Canadian soldiers were ambushed by Taliban in Helmand province.

Before the alleged shooting, the group had called in air support, which included a U.S. Apache helicopter, court heard on Tuesday.

After the chopper completed the air strike, the Canadian and Afghan soldiers found one dead insurgent and another who appeared to be severely-wounded.

According to court documents, the wounded insurgent had a rifle, which was taken from him, and that it was determined his injuries were untreatable.

Witnesses quoted in court documents say that Semrau was seen near the injured insurgent before two shots were fired.

Crown prosecutor Maj. Marylene Trudel accused Semrau of firing both shots.

So to all those journalists reading this: stop blithely propagating Taliban lies as though there were no consequences to those actions. Stop telling us what the Taliban are saying without putting those lies in context and reminding your audience of their trustworthiness. Stop facilitating the enemy's purposeful info op campaign to undermine Canadian public support for the mission.

You want to inform us? Then publicly call out the one side in this fight that's deliberately lying to manipulate public opinion. That's the sort of information we need.