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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (16398)	4/4/2003 5:01:37 AM
From: eddieww	Respond to of 89467

Sure. Besides these, I'm sure a few of the thread regulars will remember the Pentagon embarrassment and retraction. Truth is the first casualty of war. from Reuters, in India Tribune tribuneindia.com Allies jump the gun in propaganda war London, April 1 Almost everyday, Britain and the USA have rowed back from triumphal claims in Iraq after jumping the gun in the propaganda war. Scrambling for positive news in the battle against President Saddam Hussein, the two allies have announced a string of successes, only to back way from them later after realising they were inaccurate or even outright wrong. In the latest example yesterday, British forces retracted a claim that they had captured an Iraqi general in clashes with paramilitaries in southern Iraq, saying they had misidentified an Iraqi officer. Just 12 days into the war, the list of inaccuracies ranges from Iraqi uprisings to premature fall of Iraq’s second city of Basra, as Britain and the USA attempt to vindicate their controversial decision to go to war. But why do they repeatedly fall into the same trap? Part of the problem is Britain and America are under pressure politically to make the war a success, but have an unclear strategy for psychological warfare, say analysts. That comes against the backdrop of needing to keep up with the furious pace of media covering minute-by-minute developments in the conflict on 24-hour television news. “It’s not that the authorities are trying to create disinformation. In this media-ubiquitous world, they have learned that doesn’t work,” said Mr Michael Clarke, Director of the International Policy Institute at Kings College, London. “They are just trying to influence a fast-moving news agenda and they are moving faster than they can or should”. At a news conference with US President George W. Bush last week, British Premier Tony Blair said two dead British soldiers shown on Arab TV network Al-Jazeera had been “executed” by Iraq. The British Government later backed away from the accusation after a relative of one of the soldiers told a British newspaper that she had been told the soldier had died in action. In what would have been a key breakthrough last week, various media separately cited military sources as saying a mass uprising was taking place in Basra. Iraq dismissed the reports as “hallucinations” while Arab television channels showed images of quiet Basra streets. Mr Blair later said there had only been a ... “limited uprising”. “There’s a compelling need to be relentlessly upbeat and optimistic,” said Mr Jamie Cowling, research fellow at the Institute of Public Policy Research in London. “One of the big things they are looking for is the smoking gun, the evidence for example of chemical or biological weapons, or mass torture that will prove them right”. In one example, media reported the discovery of a chemical weapons factory — reports that were later officially dismissed. Analysts say Britain and the USA have not plotted a clear enough message in their propaganda war, partly because of the speed with which the campaign was put together. At the same time, they are under increasing pressure to get their case across to both their own people and Iraqis. “This is a deeply political war. This is not an attempt to invade Iraq as a country, but to chase out its regime. It’s important to get their political message across,” said Mr Clarke. Other claims that initially appeared to provide Britain and America with propaganda ammunition include the repeated fall of the Iraqi port city of Umm Qasr. American officials claimed an Iraqi commander had surrendered, but he turned up on the Al-Jazeera television. Reuters ******************** reuters.com WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With a massive air bombardment under way and U.S. and British troops making gains on the ground, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Friday Saddam Hussein's regime is "starting to lose control of their country." During a Pentagon briefing, Rumsfeld also said U.S. and British forces captured the key port of Umm Qasr "and also a growing portion of the country of Iraq." "The confusion of Iraqi officials is growing. Their ability to see what is happening on the battlefield, to communicate with their forces and to control their country is slipping away," Rumsfeld added. "The regime is starting to lose control of their country." ************************* internationalist.org excerpt The ferocious display of firepower against Baghdad was a bald-faced attempt at assassination of Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein. After this kickoff, on Day One of the war, March 20, tens of thousands of U.S. and British troops streamed north across the Kuwaiti border. Within hours, the U.S. Central Command announced that the port of Umm Qasr had been taken and the southern Iraqi metropolis Basra had fallen. ****************************** ananova.com excerpt Defence Department officials reported on Friday that they had won the surrender of the entire 51st Division, a regular Iraqi army unit deployed in southern Iraq to defend Basra, the nation's second largest city. On Saturday, officials backtracked... *****************************