[Peace-discuss] US propaganda for war in Afghanistan

[John W.]

I'm fascinated that there is now, apparently, a web site called Wikileaks.
:-)



On Sun, Mar 28, 2010 at 1:02 PM, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu>wrote:



> [The point of course is to avoid any discussion of the why the US is
> spending so much money and killing so many people in Afghanistan.  --CGE]
>
>        CIA paper reveals plans to manipulate European opinion on
> Afghanistan
>        By Daniel Tencer
>        Friday, March 26th, 2010 -- 3:41 pm
>
> 'Out-of-the-box' CIA think tank proposes concerns over women's rights, fear
> of terrorism as ways to boost support for Afghan war
>
> Evidently spooked by the collapse of the Dutch government over the
> country's involvement in Afghanistan, the CIA has put together a strategy
> proposal to prevent what it fears could be a "precipitous" collapse of
> support for the war in Afghanistan among European allies.
>
> A document marked "confidential / not for foreign eyes," posted to the
> Wikileaks Web site, suggests strategies to manipulate European public
> opinion on the war, particularly in France and Germany.
>
> The document doesn't propose any direct methods by which the CIA could
> achieve this -- there are no references to planting propaganda in the press,
> for example -- but it does lay out what it sees as the key talking points to
> changing hearts and minds on the war. Among its proposals, the policy paper
> suggests playing up the plight of Afghan women to French audiences, as the
> French public has shown concern for women's rights in Afghanistan.
>
> For the German audience, the document suggests a measure of fear-mongering
> about the possible fallout of NATO failure in Afghanistan. "Germany’s
> exposure to terrorism, opium, and refugees might help to make the war more
> salient to skeptics," the document asserts.
> Story continues below...
>
> Read the report here, courtesy of Wikileaks.
>
> The policy paper was prepared by a group called the "CIA Red Cell," which
> describes itself as having been tasked "with taking a pronounced
> 'out-of-the-box' approach that will provoke thought and offer an alternative
> viewpoint on the full range of analytic issues."
>
> "The fall of the Dutch Government over its troop commitment to Afghanistan
> demonstrates the fragility of European support for the NATO-led ISAF
> mission," the document states. "Some NATO states, notably France and
> Germany, have counted on public apathy about Afghanistan to increase their
> contributions to the mission, but indifference might turn into active
> hostility if spring and summer fighting results in an upsurge in military or
> Afghan civilian casualties."
>
> The CIA report notes that 80 percent of the French and German public are
> opposed to the war, but offers a loophole: Public apathy, which has allowed
> European leaders to extend and broaden their involvement in Afghanistan
> despite deep opposition.
>
> But "if some forecasts of a bloody summer in Afghanistan come to pass,
> passive French and German dislike of their troop presence could turn into
> active and politically potent hostility," the report states.
>
> GET OBAMA INVOLVED
>
> The CIA Red Cell points out that President Obama continues to enjoy popular
> support in Europe at levels he has not seen in the US in months. The report
> suggests getting the president involved in selling the Afghanistan war to
> Europeans.
>
> "The confidence of the French and German publics in President Obama’s
> ability to handle foreign affairs in general and Afghanistan in particular
> suggest that they would be receptive to his direct affirmation of their
> importance to the ISAF mission—and sensitive to direct expressions of
> disappointment in allies who do not help," the report states.
>
> The report notes that "when [opinion poll] respondents were reminded that
> President Obama himself had asked for increased deployments to Afghanistan,
> their support for granting this request increased dramatically, from 4 to 15
> percent among French respondents and from 7 to 13 percent among Germans."
>
> To change French minds, the CIA Red Cell proposes linking the Afghanistan
> war to the effort to improve women's rights in Afghanistan. It also proposes
> pointing out that the Afghanistan mission is more popular in Afghanistan
> than it is in Europe, at least according to the statistics cited in the
> report.
>
> "Afghan women could serve as ideal messengers in humanizing the ISAF role
> in combating the Taliban because of women’s ability to speak personally
> and credibly about their experiences under the Taliban, their aspirations
> for the future, and their fears of a Taliban victory," the report asserts.
>
> "Highlighting Afghans’ broad support for ISAF could underscore the
> mission’s positive impact on civilians. About two-thirds of Afghans
> support the presence of ISAF forces in Afghanistan, according to a reliable
> ... poll conducted in December 2009," the report states.
>
> For the German public, the message should be somewhat different, the report
> states. "Messages that dramatize the consequences of a NATO defeat for
> specific German interests could counter the widely held perception that
> Afghanistan is not Germany’s problem. For example, messages that
> illustrate how a defeat in Afghanistan could heighten Germany’s exposure
> to terrorism, opium, and refugees might help to make the war more salient to
> skeptics."
>
> Numerous news reports in recent years have suggested that the CIA is more
> deeply involved in the Afghanistan war than it has been in previous wars.
> For instance, when news broke that seven CIA agents had been killed in a
> suicide bombing at a forward operating base, it highlighted the fact that
> the CIA has been operating essentially as a branch of the military in
> Afghanistan, running the unmanned aerial drone strikes against the Taliban.
>
> That suicide bombing also highlighted the difficulties the agency faces in
> getting a grasp on the situation in the Central Asian country. CIA
> operatives had believed Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, the suicide
> bomber, was willing to work as an informant for them. They were apparently
> so completely unaware of his status as a double agent that they had prepared
> a birthday party for him in advance of his arrival, when he proceeded to
> blow himself up.
>
>
> http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0326/cia-paper-reveals-strategies-manipulate-european-opinion-afghanistan/
>

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