Astroturf: IVAW in the Asia Times

Posted By Grim

Remember last summer, when Iraq Veterans Against the War managed to fool The Nation magazine?  Well, guess what we've got in today's Asia Times, via Inter Press?

"I never heard of an Iraqi unit that was able to operate on their own," said Aliff, who is now a member of the group Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). "The only reason we were replaced by an Iraqi army unit was for publicity."

Aliff said he participated in roughly 300 patrols. "We were hit by so many roadside bombs we became incredibly demoralized, so we decided the only way we wouldn't be blown up was to avoid driving around all the time."

"So we would go find an open field and park, and call our base every hour to tell them we were searching for weapons caches in the fields and doing weapons patrols and everything was going fine," he said, adding, "All our enlisted people became very disenchanted with our chain of command."

OK, let's leave aside the fact that, with modern UAV technology monitoring so much of our activity, it would be rather obvious if a patrol was 'phoning it in.'  This piece ran in a real newspaper staffed by real journalists, so we know they checked it out with independent sources, right? 

Sure they did.  There are several other soldiers mentioned, only one of whom is said to also be an IVAW member.  They include:

Eli Wright, not identified as an IVAW member.  (Here's his profile at IVAW).

Geoff Millard, identified as an IVAW member.  (Here's his profile at IVAW).

Nathan Lewis, not identified as an IVAW member.  (Here's an IVAW story noting his membership, and his arrest at Ft. Benning for trespassing.)

That's it.  That's the sum total of everyone they interviewed for this story.  They thought they'd make this look like a grassroots complaint among military members, when it's really an exclusively IVAW operation.

Oh, hey, you know who was arrested with Mr. Lewis at that protest?  Why, the IVAW member who confessed to faking anti-Muslim hate crimes.

What you've got here is an Information Operation by IVAW, who obviously learned some of their military lessons well.  Whether Inter Press is actively conspiring to aid this IO against the United States military, or whether they are simply so unprofessional that their journalists don't even do basic fact checking, I leave to others to decide.

UPDATE:  Greyhawk points out that the author of this Inter Press piece has a website.

In late 2003, Weary of the overall failure of the US media to accurately report on the realities of the war in Iraq for the Iraqi people and US soldiers, Dahr Jamail went to Iraq to report on the war himself.

His dispatches were quickly recognized as an important media resource. He is now writing for the Inter Press Service, The Asia Times and many other outlets. His reports have also been published with The Nation, The Sunday Herald, Islam Online, the Guardian, Foreign Policy in Focus, and the Independent to name just a few. Dahr's dispatches and hard news stories have been translated into French, Polish, German, Dutch, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic and Turkish. On radio as well as television, Dahr reports for Democracy Now!, the BBC, and numerous other stations around the globe. Dahr is also special correspondent for Flashpoints.

Dahr has spent a total of 8 months in occupied Iraq as one of only a few independent US journalists in the country.

This little disaster is listed on his "hard news" page.  Was the hard part not calling any of their commanders to ask if there was any chance the story might be true, or not Googling their names to see that they were all part of IVAW?

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Comments

[M. Simon]

This is kind of OT but my friend Karridine has a gift for our men and women.

The author of I Wanna Go Home, Karridine, has authorized me to give away 1,000 free copies of the song to our men and women in the military for personal use only. However, recipients of a free copy can let anybody listen to it if they want. Members of the military can put it on their i-pod, use it on their computer, or make one CD.

You can find out how to get a free copy at 1,000 Free Copies.

===

If you want a review copy e-mail me. The addy is on top of the sidebar.

[GI]

IPS is a leftist front group used to "launder" rumors into news to mainstream outlets:

http://forwarddeployed.com/2007/10/26/asia-times-astroturfing-campaign-uncovered/

Great posting uncovering this latest misinformation attempt. The Asia Times used to be a pretty good publication but it went down hill fast the past couple of years.

[caelestis]

Grim ,dahr jamail said US soldiers used chemical weapons in Fallujah, that the US is guilty of war crimes, and oh yeah he writes for Rense.com as well........
Here's a taste, he's a nasty piece of work..........The fact that it took him this long to astroturf the IVAW turds is actually surprising.......

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article327136.ece

http://revcom.us/a/051/dahr-jamail-testimony.html

http://www.rense.com/general72/warcrimes.htm

http://www.antiwar.com/jamail/?articleid=8907

Hello Matty O' Blackfive Caelestis ain't dead he's just been vacationing for the last year and a half.......I'm about to rise from the dead like Lazarus....

[Rey]

An impossibility to sit on a field phoning it in. All army (dont know about marines)military vehicles are equipped with either BFT (Blue Force Tracker) or FBCB2 (Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below). The position of every vehicle is tracked by someone at all times. That tells me that these soldiers have not been to Iraq or been there and stayed at the FOB (FOBit). ANyone who has gone out on patrol, knows about FBCB2.

[Ojoe]

Dahr reports for "Democracy Now!"?

That's the worst, & I will disbelieve anything he says.

[Jonn Lilyea]

"Weary of the overall failure of the US media to accurately report on the realities of the war in Iraq for the Iraqi people and US soldiers, Dahr Jamail went to Iraq to report on the war himself"

So he just "sensed" that the US media was failing to accurately report on Iraq - without having been there before? Maybe what the bio meant to say was "weary of the failure of the US media to report only what Dahr Jamail wanted to hear...."

[Arch]

Eli Wright is a medic in the 10th Mountain at Ft Drum. According to him, he was in Iraq fron September 2003 - September 2004. A lot has changed.

If what he said is true (and I doubt it is) hasn't he admitted to submitting a false official report? Since he is still on active duty, he is subject to the UCMJ.

Arch

[Deltabravo]

Asia Times is what I read when I grow weary of the responsible stodgy journalism of the "ha-Beeb," al-Reuters and Allahu-France Presse.

[Grimmy]

These are black propagandists. These individuals have chosen to act as agents on behalf of the enemy in attempting to subvert, confuse and demoralize our own citizens.

There is nothing innocent about it. This is not about a difference of opinion. This is about betrayal and a society so weak and suicidally stupid that it can not face up to what that means.

[Cannoneer No4]

InfoWarrior Grim has acquired a target and called it in to the Blackfive Virtual Warlord Tactical Operations Center.

Now what?

Is Asia Times worth countering?

If yes, what cyber munition do we employ?

Who in B5's task organization should be selected to employ that cyber munition?

Who does the BDA?

Who writes the AAR?

Who answers these questions?

[Cannoneer No4]

• Indirect refutation. This technique seeks to question the validity of
some aspect of the opponent’s allegations or the source of the
propaganda, thus challenging its credibility. This technique is often
seen in courtroom trials where one side seeks to lower the credibility of
“expert” witnesses. An advantage of using this technique is that
indirect refutation does not bring added publicity or credibility to the
propaganda by repeating certain aspects. Irregular PSYOP Auxiliaries should
ensure that the facts used to damage the credibility of the propaganda
are accurate and have some importance in the minds of the Target Audience. When seeking to lower the credibility of the source of the propaganda,
personnel should avoid “name calling,” as this may potentially damage
the credibility of the supported force.

[robinboyd]

Interesting but IVAW has removed the profiles of Aliff, Wright and Lewis from the list of members displayed in the "Member Profiles" section of IVAW. I can still get to their profiles via your links though.

I popped an email over to command at Ft Drum asking for verification of Aliff's claims on Thurs. The response I received said that are checking the claims and will get back with me either Mon or Tues.

This is not the first time Dahr "look at my kaffiyeh" Jamail has pulled a stunt like this and certainly won't be the last. He is on my "hit list of those to expose" as is IVAW.

[yankeemom]

Dahr is a darling of UC Santa Cruz, CA ~ nuff said.