Nails It!

Posted By Laughing_Wolf

The timing couldn't have been better given Mr. Wolf's review yesterday. Chris Muir once again nails it in terms of the information war.

LW

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[chiropetra]

Just so.

There is a very real sense in which the media war is the most important front in the war against Al Qaeda.

The problem is, these guys are _good_ at it. This distinguishes them from nearly any other foreign enemy we have ever faced.

The AQ media masters understand how our system works and they know how to target the seams and weak points.

For example, most of AQ's high-profile attacks are aimed squarely at the American media. Last week's mass bombing near the Syrian border is a classic example. As a military operation it was pointless. As a terrorist operation it was nonsense. As an attack on American public opinion it was both priceless and right on point.

We've already seen commenters sounding off about how the surge can't possibly be working if we're seeing attacks like this. Never mind that the bombers went for a virtually unprotected target with no significance beyond the media effect.

For another example it's pretty obvious that AQ, Hezbollah, etc. have made major attempts to infiltrate the ranks of the stringers for the major news organizations. The result has been a whole series of false news stories, from the Photoshopped buildings in Lebanon to "Fat Fatima" and her miracle bullets in Baghdad.

Alternatively, AQ and the others simply suborn existing stringers or feed them false stories -- such as the 30 headless bodies. The truth may come out eventually, but by that time the damage has been done.

I suspect the Associated Press has been a particular target of this infiltration, based on some the stories they have come out with over the last couple of years and the importance of the AP in American news gathering.

Another highly exploitable trait is the American media's fear of being seen as being 'coopted' by the American military or, worse yet, the administration. Any reporter who writes consistently favorable stories about events in Iraq is going to face accusations of having "gotten too close to his sources" -- which is a high journalistic crime.

The worst part of it is, we have no institutional defenses against these attacks. The military is prevented from hitting back by the ban on 'politics' or 'propaganda' in the military. The government can't respond effectively because any effort to do so arouses a chorus of protest, dismissing the effort as propaganda at best and playing politics at worst.

Yet clearly we have to respond. We are losing this battle and with it we are likely to lose the war. Someone has to stand up and fight back for America. The military can't fight on this battlefield. The government is hamstrung. Who's left?

/\oo/\

[Grimmy]

The betrayal of our media has locked us out of any real effectiveness in the info war front.

This is as much a betrayal as it would have been if our military had chosen to take up arms in the name of AQ and fight the US on the kinetic battlefield.

A traitor is a traitor and there is only one viable remedy for treason. There is no excuse for the choice to adhere to the enemy during a time of war and there should be no forgiveness possible.

[Larry J]

AQ does operate with a big advantage in the media war - a large percentage of the US and foreign media already believe the US military is evil so it's easy to pass off bad information to them. Any time the military tries to counter AQ's claims, they face a hostile press. Likewise, about half of the US population and much of the world's population believe the worst about the US so it isn't hard to pass off claims of atrocities and the like.

[tankerbrosbrat]

"Who's left?"

Why, the bloggers of course..Just Sayin'...

[Deltabravo]

Indeed they are good. And their terror websites (many hosted in OUR country...) are masterfully manipulative. Here is just ONE of many. The first two picture links don't work. Don't let that put you off. The others do, and it's very eye-opening.

http://www.albasrah.net/index.php

I don't mind seeing photos of dead headless tangos being chewed on by street dogs myself. But none of these pictures is presented in any real context whatsoever. This is what the OTHER side is viewing. For all we know, the dead babies and maimed children came from their own suicide attacks. But this is the real information war. They have one entitled "This could be your daughter." Looks nasty... all their daughters with plastic cuffs on in a house. But it's not put forth in the context that we encounter "pregnant women" who turn out to be fleeing terrorist males.

How do you begin to even this playing field?

[chiropetra]

"Who's left?"
Why, the bloggers of course..Just Sayin'...

Absolutely right! _We're_ left, and not just the bloggers. We're the ones who are going to have to fight the media war because no one else can.

This is a classic case of a job the government can't do for us, so we have to do it for ourselves.

What we need is a concerted, effective campaign to counter Al Qaeda's media offensive.

That means it has to be as carefully planned and conducted as the Surge. It has to target the enemy's seams and weak spots just as they are targeting ours.

We need to conduct a COIN operation, based on COIN principles in the media war.

This isn't easy. No campaign ever is. It will require a thorough understanding of COIN principles and the way the media works. Then that information will have to be translated into a plan of campaign and then we need the boots on the ground to make it work.

This isn't mindless media bashing or railing against liberals. It is fire for effect, designed to defeat AQ and other terrorist groups who are playing us through our own media.

Tough fight. The question is, do we have the brains, the skills, and the fortitude to do it?

/\oo/\

[OldSoldier54]

"Tough fight. The question is, do we have the brains, the skills, and the fortitude to do it?"
I hope and believe so. We must because the Left and their tame propagandists in the MSM are selling the entire country down the river, lock, stock and barrel.

I also believe the counter battery fire from the Milblogs and others like Mike Yon, Bill Roggio, Iraq the Model, etc has been increasing in density. And folks are starting to notice.

It seems to me, a good way to augment the effect of this counter battery would be to document a given media outlet's propaganda news piece in an email together with the evidence rebutting it from the various blogs and boots on the ground, with a plethora of links to source material and then sending it to our entire email list with a request to forward to all on their list, etc.

[Cincinnati_Bob]

Sorry to be an asshat here, but from my experience with those already under mind control it's pretty much useless. If you present facts and reason to them, they put their hands over their ears, make loud weird noises and their minds slingshot further into non-realityville. Like shooting wooden bullets at vampires.

I've been talking to these people since 9-12-2001.

Yea, I'll keep going too, but in the end I believe the pain must arrive before the brains will awaken. A lot of pain.

Honestly, I know seemingly intelligent successful people who can't dismiss the 9-11 conspiracy tales. They actually can't dismiss the idea that the buildings could have been rigged with super duper special explosives that would only explode when GWB pressed a special button on a book entitled 'My Pet Goat'...

[tankerbrosbrat]

"...it's pretty much useless."

If we even think words like "useless" in this fight, we ARE done, over, kaput. There are days when I am overwhelmed by what appear to be insurmountable odds in this war on the homefront, but I remind myself that the troops in the sandbox don't have the luxury of that train of thought.

So I keep writing, keep fighting the fight..Until they ALL come home.. And if I need any further motivation to "never surrender", I watch videos such as we have on Tanker Bros this morning (how's that for a shameless plug? lol) THEY are two of the many reasons I will NEVER roll over.

And as for embed? How come SA hasn't called me yet to be in the sandbox with you guys? What's with that?

Ready in a heartbeat here...