Wednesday, August 26, 2009

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.

15 Comments:

Blogger Mark, Ottawa said...

Brilliant.

Mark
Ottawa

1:18 p.m., August 26, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ditto. Esp the point about "balance."

Wonder if the media will follow-up on the investigation conducted by the Taliban into the 40+ civilian casualties... oh wait, there won't be any of that. Never mind.

1:25 p.m., August 26, 2009  
Blogger Mark, Ottawa said...

Rather related to this preceding post today by milnews.ca, I'd say:

"Reporter Admits Gaps in Afghan Coverage"

No, er, kidding.

Mark
Ottawa

1:41 p.m., August 26, 2009  
Blogger Peter L said...

please note that every war since Vietnam where the media has had unfettered access, the West has lost. In the first Gulf War, the media was restrained and the outcome was different. Our media should be ashamed of themselves and in a very real sense are just as responsible for Allied casualties as the Taliban themselves. In fact, I would go so far as to say that many so called "journalists" should be prosecuted for treason and jailed for lengthy terms.

2:52 p.m., August 26, 2009  
Blogger milnews.ca said...

But, guys, c'mon - the Taliban said they didn't do it. They wouldn't lie about something like this, right? Say t'ain't so..... >>insert eye roll here<<

2:54 p.m., August 26, 2009  
Blogger Dr.Dawg said...

Was this thing published in English? ("Try your beast...")

5:27 p.m., August 26, 2009  
Blogger Mark, Ottawa said...

Beast. Woof.

Mark
Ottawa

5:32 p.m., August 26, 2009  
Blogger Mark, Ottawa said...

To amplify on Herr Doktor Hund's, er, Weltanschauung: "...another Kontemptible Kanadian Konservative"...

Mark
Ottawa

5:44 p.m., August 26, 2009  
Blogger Unknown said...

Well said. Our MSM in the west has become the greatest vehicle of Taliban Info Ops attacks against NATO countries since this whole thing began. The second we allow an insurgent group the ability to pander to our main media sources, we have lost the Info Ops initative. This happened years ago in the Afstan mission and will take a ton of effort to regain it.

Take a look at how Iraq and the brutal reporting by the MSM has rapidly swung - now it can be argued that Afstan has taken the story lead away from Iraq, but regardless, public opinion starts to level off once the Katie Courics and the other airbrushed puppets start yapping unbalanced garbage about missions they do not understand.

Unfortunately, the sheeple eat it up with a big spoon and we are left with a general public both uninformed and indifferent. Thanks MSM, we salute you!

5:59 p.m., August 26, 2009  
Blogger Babbling Brooks said...

Dawg: no, it was published in Pashto, and translated into English when we found copies on our patrols.

8:15 p.m., August 26, 2009  
Blogger rasp said...

Great piece of writing.
Outfits like AP and the rest of the Liberal progressive slime aren't so keen on the truth as they are on the 'feelings' they have been taught to convey to the reader. Years of voluntary brainwashing at crappy liberal colleges has produced these 'journalists'. In previous decades charges of Treason would be brought. Many treasonous events occurred during the first Gulf War and since.

8:16 p.m., August 26, 2009  
Blogger Dr.Dawg said...

Babbling:

Thanks. I found that odd.

So these books have been published in Pashto and distributed in the field in the expectation that some would be captured?

I'm not saying this strains belief. I just want to be sure of the claim here.

Mark:

The translation does indeed read "beast." Unless my old eyes deceive me.

9:22 p.m., August 26, 2009  
Blogger David M said...

The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 08/27/2009 News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front.

10:41 a.m., August 27, 2009  
Blogger Babbling Brooks said...

Not a book, Dawg, more of a pamphlet.

As it was published in Pashto, I suspect it was targeting multiple audiences. First, Taliban thugs themselves - although in a cursory way: "Oh, and one last thing! Try not to hurt the locals - it's easier to subjugate them if they don't hate us." Second, the local population: "See, we really care about you, and we're a legitimate alternative to the Karzai puppets - we have laws and rules and stuff." Third, the useful idiots in coalition countries who will grasp at any excuse to withdraw from Afghanistan: "We know you think your own country is evil, but you might still think we're more evil. This should provide you with the intellectual and emotional fig leaf you're craving."

At least, that's how I see it.

10:41 a.m., August 27, 2009  
Blogger Louise said...

Great piece. This explains the steady demise of the MSM.

12:46 p.m., August 27, 2009  

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