CIA Propaganda - Selling War in Afghanistan

ꕤ Summary SOURCE WikiLeaks CIA PROPAGANDA EXPERTS SELLING THE AFGHAN WAR TO RELUCTANT PUBLIC IN ALLIED NATO COUNTRIES ‘ISAF Mission’ referred to in CIA propaganda strategy report  -- is basically NATO military intervention     & is therefore referred to as such in the summary below CIA strategic communication analysis -- ie amounts to a CIA Propaganda Assessment & Plan Dated:  11 March 2010 ___________________________________ The propaganda plan focuses on finding ways to sell NATO military intervention in Afghanistan to the French, German & other Western European publics ___________________________________  SUMMARY / COMMENTS NATO countries, in this case, primarily France & Germany count on PUBLIC APATHY to proceed with committing resources and troops to NATO military action in Afghanistan _______________ Oddly,  this ‘public apathy’ is  despite 80% *opposition* of German & French public polled in late 2009 So one would think that until such public opinion is translated into street demonstrations and the like, such opposition will be taken as ‘public apathy’ and ignored by politicians _______________ CIA warns that public hostility may be aroused by: *military casualties *civilian casualties NOTE:  Dutch (Netherlands) government fell due to troop commitment to Afghanistan CIA therefore also cautions that Dutch-style debate spill-over could result in the event of high casualties and could threaten other European maintenance/commitment to NATO military intervention in Afghanistan Article - Netherlands govt collapse Dutch government collapses after Labour withdrawal from coalition Row over extension of Dutch troops' tour of duty in Afghanistan forces Labour out of Jan Peter Balkenende's ruling coalition David Batty and agencies @David_Batty Sunday 21 February 2010 03.52 AEDT Last modified on Tuesday 20 May 2014 05.21 AEST The Dutch government has ­collapsed over disagreements on whether or not to extend troop deployment in Afghanistan. The prime minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, said the Labour party – the second-largest party in his ruling coalition – was quitting. He tendered his government's resignation to Queen Beatrix, the Dutch ceremonial head of state, in a telephone call. Balkenende has been weighing up a request from Nato for Dutch troops to stay in Afghanistan beyond 2010. Just under 2,000 Dutch personnel have been serving in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, where 21 Dutch soldiers have been killed. MORE http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/feb/20/dutch-coalition-collapse-afghanistan _______________ Public Apathy Permits Politicians to Ignore Voters Afghan military intervention unimportant to the French and German public, therefore: =  French and German leaders could disregard what opposition there was =  could increase their troop contributions to NATO military intervention in Afghanistan Result of public apathy as at March 2010: -- Germany:  third highest troop level in Afghanistan -- France:  fourth highest troop level in Afghanistan *DESPITE OPPOSITION of 80% of German & French public polled in late 2009 _______________ That's a massive amount of opposition that the German and French governments are ignoring, presumably because it is not opposition mounted in the streets of those countries. _______________ Same 2009 poll showed German and French public: -- did not rank Afghanistan as a most urgent issue. -- did not rank stabilising Afghanistan as a high priority issue. -- did not see Afghanistan as a national problem. -- saw Afghanistan military intervention as waste of public funds. Therefore, propaganda must be tailored to EXPLOIT these public opinion factors. CIA propaganda advice memo indicates that the European public viewing the issue of Afghanistan as a 'not our problem' which is interpreted that the existing deployment of troops to Afghanistan is not on the public radar. CASUALTIES The CIA propagandist plan concern is that: Passive public opposition could be turned into active calls for withdrawal of troops if German troops, French troops or Afghanistan civilians are killed. _______________ Which probably explains why: 1) the military hides figures of civilian dead. 2) the government discourages media focus on military dead, bodybags etc. _______________ DOMESTIC POLITICS Ongoing support for NATO military intervention is at risk at ELECTION TIME. { Comment:  therefore, one would think, anti-war campaigners might wish to especially concentrate their efforts in the lead up to elections, as election time appears to be a critical time to turn public opinion and to perhaps leverage wanted results from politicians } CIA express concern re DOMINO EFFECT: ie if the Dutch pull out due to domestic opposition, the French and the Germans may do likewise, citing the Dutch precedent. { Comment:  for anti-war campaigners, that would mean that if one country’s campaign is successful, there is a strong likelihood that such success may be followed up elsewhere, by setting of example for others to follow } _______________ Propaganda Pre-empting Opposition Between 2008 & 2010 (ie 2 year period) France + Germany took measures to pre-empt further opposition to Afghanistan military intervention _______________ FRANCE Following deaths of x10 French soldiers in late 2008, Sarkozy called for a National Assembly to give the appearance of debate & consent Sarkozy's government won the vote Sarkozy used that opportunity to then deploy a further 3,000 troops Due to regional elections coming up March 2010, Sarkozy's govt is at risk to any increase in casualties ______________ GERMANY Kunduz Airstrike 2009 American F-15E fighter jet struck two *beached* / *stranded* fuel tankers reportedly captured by Taliban insurgents, in response to German call. Over 90 civilians killed in US fighter attack. German Col. Georg Klein relying on intelligence officer relying on sole informant. Col. Georg Klein ordered that 500-pound GBU-38 bombs be dropped at 2:30am. June 2010 Germany announced it would pay $5,000 to each of the families of over 100 civilian victims, as an ex gratia payment without admitting liability. Former Afghan Commerce Minister Amin Farhang described the $5,000—equivalent to about 20,000 Afghanis—as a "laughable" sum. {Comment:  that sum’s an insult} Germany reclassified the Afghanistan deployment as an "armed conflict within the parameters of international law", allowing German forces to act without risk of prosecution under German law. [Wikipedia] ------------------ Article - Kunduz "Officially, the German deployment had been termed a "stabilization mission," which left many soldiers resentful that the full dangers of their mission were not appreciated back home." February 11, 2010 http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/the-world-from-berlin-new-evaluation-on-afghanistan-long-overdue-a-677289.html So the propaganda program was already in place in Germany, spinning the 'stabilisation mission' line for what is intensely contested occupation. ______________ Kunduz Airstrike of Sept 2009 killed high number of Afghan civilians is described by the CIA as a 'potential pressure' on the government Germany also has vulnerability:  May 2010 regional elections CIA advises on how the European public may be encouraged to swallow increased military casualties and/or increased civilian causalities: ie can be done by linking 'outcomes' in Afghanistan with the voters' own priorities Communication method to achieve this: *propaganda program across NATO troop contributing nations  *consistency  *repetition  *linking to key concerns for particular national audiences is the pre-emptive propaganda measure, to be relied upon to continue to support NATO military intervention in the event that the 2010 apathy concerning Afghanistan military intervention turns to active opposition & calls for withdrawal, as this propaganda will then shore up the politicians' ability to justify & support taxpayer expense and deployment of their nations' troops in Afghanistan. { Comment:  So it is propaganda to pave the way to giving politicians the excuse to carry on as they wish, even in the face of future opposition. } THE PLAN FRANCE Exploit concerns for civilians & refugees give examples of benefits to Afghan civilians / ie spin the Afghan civilian ‘benefits’ Choice of spin is based on results of public opinion polls. 2009 Public polls indicated: 1) those in support of Afghanistan military intervention, hold the view on basis that intervention is a 'help' to civilians; 2) those against Afghanistan military intervention, hold the view on the basis intervention is damaging to civilians. Going by the 2009 polls, the CIA propaganda experts conclude that contradicting the perception that Afghanistan military intervention does more harm than good is important in France, particularly given the Muslim minority in France. The plan is to cite a 2009 poll that indicates that a majority Afghans support foreign military intervention in their country. Reason for this tactic:  This is important because a good percentage of the German and French public that was polled (and in opposition to the military intervention in Afghanistan) also believed that the Afghan public is opposed to foreign military intervention in Afghanistan. Exploiting Public Guilt In addition, the French can dramatise the potentially negative consequences of NATO defeat for Afghan civilians Exploiting Cultural Differences re Status of Women eg by using the spectre of Taliban denying girls education this is supposed to trigger secular French indignation give the public reason to support French military intervention in Afghanistan -- ie  using propaganda to spin foreign military intervention in Afghanistan aims as a'good and necessary' cause so as to obtain public support, regardless of casualties ______________ COMMENT Explains all that incongruous emphasis on women's rights and anti-rape campaigns pushed by the UN, the British government, the US government, and like organisations -- where the ditzy Hollywood celebrities front the propaganda sideshow in a perverse entertainment-politics ‘marriage’ with bald-headed neocon warmonger politicians ______________ Exploit Testimonials  / Personalise Exploiting stories re the plight of refugees is highly recommended (given media controversy that was whipped up re 2009 expulsion of 12 Afghan refugees) { Comment:  the same could be said of the ‘Refugee Crisis’ currently drummed up by Merkel and the media and used by politicians in an attempt to justify attack on Syria } French were already involved in anti human trafficking efforts, so (according to the CIA propaganda memo), the French could be talked into supporting a NATO propaganda campaign along the lines that a NATO defeat could cause a refugee crisis. ______________ COMMENT  The irony is that military interventions are responsible for creating displacement and refugee problems, which Europe is currently awash with due to successive interventions of NATO and allies. ______________ GERMANY 2009 poll indicates German public opposition to war in Afghanistan was on the basis of: - financial/resources waste reasons - not a German issue - objection in principle {pacifist public} Ways to dampen German public opposition to NATO military intervention in Afghanistan - demonstrating ‘progress on the ground' - propaganda re consequences for Germany if NATO defeated in Afghanistan - propaganda re value of German 'partnership' in the NATO-led intervention - using propaganda about Afghanistan optimism re the military intervention's progress could challenge the waste of taxpayer money argument { Comment:  following government-associated broadcaster polls are never to be trusted (in my opinion) ...  } Background ARD ARD (broadcaster) joint organisation of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters founded in 1950 in West Germany ARD - world's largest public broadcaster, with a budget of €6.3 billion & 23,000 employees budget comes primarily from the licence fees every household, every company and even every public institution ARD - operates many correspondents' offices in foreign cities, second only to BBC News {Comment:  BBC has been described as a ‘nest of spies’ by Iran, so it is not unreasonable to conclude ARD would be a like German organisation} Since 1960 it ARD been operated by the German federal government [Propaganda & Mass Persuasion, Cull, Cullbert & Welch - pg 333] ABC/BBC/ADR These polls *supposedly* indicated a high level of Afghan support for foreign military invasion in their country, on the basis of belief in pending improvement of conditions. {Comment:  lol ... anyone actually believe that?  Who did they poll, US payrolled dissidents? } Meanwhile, there were equally high levels of German pessimism re ‘stabilising Afghanistan’ Propaganda plan is to stress this 'high optimism' attributed to Afghanistan public To counter the 'not our problem' attitude of the German public, the following propaganda is called for: messaging that indicates NATO defeat in Afghanistan could equal exposure to terrorism, opium, refugees in Germany ______________ Irony This is the *exact* result of German *INTERVENTION* abroad -- it creates an explosion of displaced & therefore refugees, that Germany (& Europe) is now imposing on the German public. Currently Germany (& Europe) is hosting unprecedented levels of (unvetted) refugees and economic immigrants, passed off by the media as 'Syrian refugees' --  80% of whom are from countries other than Syria -- countries that have been targets of US & allied military destruction. Thus Germany has in fact opened itself up to ADDITIONAL financial burden; extensive, ongoing, and irreconcilable social burden; significant threat and likelihood of internal violence and terrorism; probable drug importation given the high probablility of internal links (refugee influx) to external sources of opium. All these ADDITIONAL costs of war to Germany are imposed on German taxpayers, alongside the refugee problem Germany has taken onboard on behalf of its imperialist American 'partner'. ______________ For Germany, propaganda strategy is to spin and emphasise NATO intervention's 'multilateral' and 'humanitarian' propaganda angles 1990s Germans supported NATO attack on Balkans as a show of 'commitment' to NATO allies German point of weakness is the desire to help / co-operate. The 'helping allies' rationale is the major reason for German public support of NATO military intervention in Afghanistan (in 2009 poll). European worry about European standing in Washington is EXPLOITED by Washington -- as leverage for maintaining European contributions to the NATO military interventions. eg.  Obama did not attend EU summit /  places Europe in 'lesser position' & results in European 'hand wringing' re this demotion For some bizarre reason, the French and the German publics are deemed to have confidence in Obama's ability to handle foreign affairs CIA indicates that this French & German public gullibility can be exploited by getting Obama to: a) spout propaganda about the importance of NATO military intervention in Afghanistan; & b) express disappointment in allies who do not help. ______________ LMAO ... ingenious.   That definitely hooks in the brainwashed Germans, who are all about goodness and light and hand-holding cooperation in the aftermath of decades of British and US subjugation and propaganda.  lol ______________ 2009 poll showed that when citing the Obama *personal* request for Afghanistan deployments, support increased as follows: =  4-15% French increase in support for 'yes' =  7-13% German increase in support for 'yes' ______________ CIA says that although the total percentages are small, there is a public sensitivity to disappointing the plutocratic puppet President of the American empire EXPLOITING AFGHAN WOMEN FOR WAR PROPAGANDA idea is to use Afghan women to 'humanise' NATO military intervention in Afghanistan / as the symbols of NATO's noble role in combating Taliban. Arrange media events conveying testimonials by Afghan women to broadcast to disproportionately female audiences. EXPLOIT *Afghan women speaking of experiences under Taliban *Afghan women speaking of aspirations for the future *Afghan women speaking of fears of Taliban victory Hook up Afghan women and the media Disseminate the pro Western/NATO intervention in Afghanistan propaganda via media to the French, German and other European women so as to get the women of Europe to come on-board with NATO military intervention in Afghanistan This is especially important as polls indicate that - 08% more French women than men are anti war - 22% more German women than men are anti war SOURCE WikiLeaks ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- Propaganda 101 Obama will decorate an original French soldier for bravery in Afghanistan ꕤ COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Barack Obama will deliver in a month the Medal of Honor to Captain Florent Groberg, 32, a French-born US soldier who distinguished himself for his courage in fighting in Kunar province, Afghanistan. TRANSLATION Barack Obama will deliver in a month the Medal of Honor to Captain Florent Groberg, 32, a French-born US soldier who distinguished himself for his courage in fighting in Kunar province, Afghanistan. The "Medal of Honor", the highest American military award, distinguished, since 1863, an "act of heroism beyond duty." It is often awarded posthumously. Deployed in Kunar province in 2009 and again in 2012, Captain Groberg has shown 8 August 2012 in Asadabad. In an interview with Army Times magazine, Groberg captain told how he came face-to-face with a man about to commit a terrorist attack - suicide, an explosive device attached to the torso.  "The only thing I thought was: I must away from myself, I have to get him away from everybody," he recounted, explaining how he had then thrown to the ground. "At that time, he lands on the ground, I look at it, and it explodes, it explodes right before my feet." The blast left four people dead and many injured on the US side. But the intervention of Captain Groberg prevented the suicide bomber to activate his bomb when he had planned to do so and thus avoided a death toll much higher. Florent Groberg was born in Poissy, near Paris, May 8, 1983. US citizenship in 2001, he was educated at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda. Recounting the phone call from US President informing him that he would receive the prestigious medal, Florent Gorberg evoked unforgettable: "It's not every day that one of the most influential men in the world calls you on your mobile. " The discount will medal ceremony held November 12 at the White House. FRENCH SOURCE http://www.leparisien.fr/international/obama-va-decorer-un-soldat-d-origine-francaise-pour-son-courage-en-afghanistan-15-10-2015-5186039.php?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_term=Autofeed&link_time=1444864002#xtor=AD-1481423552 ꕤ