OPPapers.com

Wwii

Fabricating an Enemy and the truth

When it comes to fabricating the truth, the Pentagon and the United Kingdom have been doing it for decades. Looking as far back as WWII the United Kingdom's Foreign Office created the IRD (Information Research Department) which took over from wartime and slightly post-war departments such as the Ministry of Information and dispensed propaganda via various media such as the BBC and publishing. The IRD was founded in 1948, as a department of the British Foreign Office set up to counter Russian propaganda and infiltration, particularly amongst the western labour movement.

The department was closed down in 1977 minister.

We can also look at the War in Afghanistan. Where in 2001 the invasion of Afghanistan, psychological operations tactics were employed to demoralize the Taliban and to win the sympathies of the Afghan population. At least six EC-130E Commando Solo aircraft were used to jam local radio transmissions and transmit replacement propaganda messages. Leaflets were also dropped throughout Afghanistan, offering rewards for Osama bin Laden and other individuals, portraying Americans as friends of Afghanistan and emphasizing various negative aspects of the Taliban. This technique proved to be very effective and is still in use today in Iraq.

In Iraq Military planners in the Pentagon are acutely aware of the central role of war propaganda. Waged from the Pentagon, the State Department and the CIA, a fear and disinformation campaign (FDC) has been launched. The blatant distortion of the truth and the systematic manipulation of all sources of information is an integral part of war planning. In the wake of 9/11, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld created to the Office of Strategic Influence (OSI), or "Office of Disinformation" as it was labeled by its critics:

"The Department of Defense said they needed to do this, and they were going to actually plant stories that were false in foreign countries -- as an...