[Peace-discuss] US propaganda for war in Afghanistan

[C. G. Estabrook]

It seems quite good & to be upsetting the right people.

<http://www.wikileaks.org/>


John W. wrote:
> 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 
> <mailto: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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