Phil Taylor's papers
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BACK TO : PROPAGANDA AND THE GLOBAL 'WAR' ON TERROR (GWOT) Years 1 and 2, ie 9/11-2003
Targeting hearts and minds by Chuck Murphy 
Targeting hearts and minds The messages delivered to Afghans from American soldiers are designed to foster loyalty toward the country's government and promote peace. By CHUCK MURPHY, Times Staff Writer © St. Petersburg Times, published April 18, 2003 URGUN, Afghanistan -- Staff Sgt. John Comito, trained soldier, karate expert and Texas tough guy, steps outside his Humvee just a few miles from the Pakistan border -- hideout of the world's most notorious terrorists. He strides confidently to the back and pops open the hatch to grab . . . Kites. He has dozens of them, all in the colors of the new Afghanistan flag. Each is emblazoned with the slogan, "If you help each other, your country will be strong. Support your federal government." "The kites are big," said Maj. Phil Rosso, an elite Airborne Ranger who runs the U.S. Army's psychological operations programs in Afghanistan. "The kids can really make them fly." There are 12 teams now working in Afghanistan in an effort to gently persuade Afghans of several tribes that 23 years of civil war and rebellion is enough. It is called "psy ops" for short. And while it sounds very James Bond, it is really more Captain Kangaroo. They create simple, but serious, messages. Then they repeat them. Over and over. The psy ops teams have printed dozens of different fliers, posters and other products intended to convey and reinforce a few themes. First, Afghanistan can have peace only if everyone pulls together. Second, if the nation wants to save itself, the people must support the interim government and the new Afghan National Army. Finally, if the new army is to survive, its soldiers must lay aside decades of grudges and learn to coexist as professional fighters and peacekeepers. Establishing rapport His call sign on the radio is "Mindbender." But Comito isn't really performing any brainwashing techniques. He bumps along the narrow dirt roads in his Humvee, interpreter in tow, visiting one school after another to make his point. At each stop, he has something to give -- new solar-powered shortwave radios for the teachers, school supplies, pencils and kites for the children. There are posters and a special psy ops-produced newspaper -- Peace -- for everyone else. "A lot of the initial product going out was just 'Support the Afghan government,' " Comito said. "Now it has moved a little more into different products. School supplies. Math, alphabet. That sort of thing." The reception at schools in the Urgun area of far east-central Afghanistan was consistently positive one day last week. When Comito pulls up, children charge into the courtyard. Teachers gather around, swatting at the children with sticks to keep them in line, even as they crane their own necks to get a peek at what Comito might have brought. At the Balishi School for boys in Urgun, teacher Sahib Jan gratefully cradles the radio Comito has given him. "When the psy ops groups come, they make things better for the students," Jan said through an interpreter. "Now we hope from our God to make our government and to make education here for our future." Schools have proven to be among the most effective distribution points for the fliers and other items the psy ops teams call "products." Though they have reward fliers and other items promising millions for information leading to the capture of Osama bin Laden and other terrorists, those have already been widely circulated. And Comito says he never requires information in exchange for kites, school supplies or other items. But pencils elicit smiles. Smiles can be exchanged for radios. And radios sometimes produce information. "We feel like we have established a rapport with them," said Comito, a 48-year-old reservist who was once on active duty and now works with actor Chuck Norris in a karate-based after-school program back home in the Dallas area. "There is a certain passive intelligence element to it. But they know where to find us if they have anything they want to tell us." Keeping Osama out Rosso oversees it all from Bagram Air Base, north of the capital of Kabul. On Wednesday, he came to Kabul to visit another part of psy ops -- the indoctrination of Afghan soldiers now being shaped into a real army. "This is going to be the way to keep Osama bin Laden or another terrorist from being back here in five years," Rosso said. "Getting the message out." The Kabul Military Training Center, where Afghan soldiers come to learn, is awash in paintings and slogans -- most in both the Dari language spoken in the north and the Pashtu of the south. "Working for the reconstruction," it says on a mural near the entrance. "Long Live the Afghan National Army" reads the sign in the barracks. "From the moment they get in-processed until they graduate, they get psy opped," said Rosso, 49, of Dahlonega, Ga. Most of it involves getting Pashtuns, Tajiks and other tribes to work together. Psy ops helps, reinforcing that hard work and innovation can create rewards. Psy ops, for example, created a "Soldier of the Month" program to highlight one new recruit each month -- regardless of tribe. Rosso also made a point of having African-American soldiers on his team so that Afghan soldiers could see that diversity makes the U.S. Army strong, in the hope they would think the same about relating to different tribes. "We're highlighting the successes of the ANA (Afghan National Army)," said Lt. Joe Urban, 29, of Denver, who works daily with Afghans at the training center. "Then we reinforce those themes." The success of the messages is difficult to measure. If distribution and retention are any indication, it is going well. Psy ops posters can be seen in the windows of shops throughout north and east Afghanistan. It is a way for store owners to let people -- and U.S. troops -- know that they are behind the Afghan government. Interim President Hamid Karzai recently posed for a poster psy ops will distribute, encouraging kids to go to school. So far there have been no homicides among soldiers in the ANA, many of whose tribes have been at war with each other for decades. "The response from the soldiers is very good," said Afghan army Maj. Anya Tullah. "This is the way we can show them Karzai is our president. He is a symbol of cohesion." Of course, there have been a few minor problems, too. For example, a local warlord pointed out that one of the psy ops posters shows a dove flying from the Afghanistan flag toward the U.S. flag. "He said it looked like Afghanistan had brought peace to America," Urban said. "So we changed it." The new posters will show the dove flying the other way. And in Urgun, Comito is handing out radios in a town with no radio stations. Users can get the BBC on the shortwave, but they can also pick up Radio Tehran -- not the outcome psy ops is hoping for. "We put in for (approval to operate a low-powered radio station) but we haven't gotten it," Comito said. "I think it would be great if we got it. We're the last thing between here and Pakistan and the message would get across." Rosso isn't much concerned about whether Urgun residents listen to Radio Tehran. "We just want to get them information," he said. "They'll decide for themselves." |