Hearts, minds, leaflets: War's psychological side

Inside the Pentagon, officials are busy drafting e-mails to Saddam Hussein's inner circle, prying at loyalties in an effort to rattle the regime.

American military aircraft are dropping millions of leaflets over Iraqi towns and broadcasting radio messages urging Iraqi soldiers and citizens to reject Mr. Hussein's rule.

As Washington masses thousands of troops in the Persian Gulf region for a possible invasion, it's waging a parallel campaign on the information front. Mobilizing a range of overt and covert tools, the campaign aims to prevent all-out war or, if conflict comes, end it more swiftly.

Yet the impact on Iraqis remains questionable. The US lacks credibility, says Middle East expert Judith Kipper: "[Iraqis] blame the US as much for their suffering in the past 10 years as they do Saddam."

At the same time, the campaign's efficacy is hard to measure, says Col. Charles Borchini (Ret.), a veteran commander of military psychological-operations units. "Clearly, what is most important is that our actions are tied with our messages."

The operations are hampered by a lack of coordination, ongoing turf battles, and a bureaucratic reluctance to try bold initiatives. An underlying problem, officials say, is the potential blurring of diplomatic, military, and intelligence roles as Washington seeks novel ways to shape opinion and bolster its war on terrorism.

Recent steps to centralize the disparate elements of information warfare have gotten bogged down. The concern is over weakening the fire wall between government offices whose credibility depends on disseminating truthful, so-called "white," information, and those dealing covertly in deceptive or "black" propaganda.

"Ideas aren't being exchanged and real coordination is not being done, because people on the 'white' side might blow it out of proportion," says a defense official.

One prominent example is the Pentagon's now-defunct Office of Strategic Influence (OSI), set up last year to oversee the spectrum of "information operations." Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld abruptly disbanded the office when its reported plans to plant false news articles with foreign media came to light last February.

Today, the chilling impact of the OSI controversy endures. "The OSI flap has adversely affected what we need to do," says the defense official.

Still, administration officials see this war of persuasion as vital to shaping any ground fight, as well as its political aftermath. The handling of Iraq, they know, will be decisive in their broader battle to win hearts and minds in the Muslim world.

So new initiatives are under way. An office of "Information Activities" has replaced OSI at the defense department. Two new sub-cabinet-level "policy-coordinating committees" are focusing on information strategy. And this month, President Bush approved a Pentagon plan to manage military "Information Operations" (IO) from the US Strategic Command at Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base.

Bush and other top US officials are also stepping up direct appeals to the Iraqi people. "I have a message for the brave and oppressed people of Iraq," Bush said in his State of the Union address Tuesday. "Your enemy is not surrounding your country - your enemy is ruling your country. And the day [Hussein] is removed from power will be the day of your liberation."

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