ABC Radio - The World Today February 27, 2003
Iraqi propaganda targets citizens, world
This is a transcript of The World Today broadcast at 1200 AEST on local radio.
JOHN HIGHFIELD: And in the war of words and ideas, President Bush has been saying a few things of his own. We'll be hearing about that shortly.
But first, let's take another in our three-part special report on the role propaganda is playing in this push towards war.
Today, Hamish Robertson looks at the propaganda techniques being used by the Iraqi Government in its campaign to influence Western public opinion.
HAMISH ROBERTSON: Like all repressive, totalitarian regimes, the Iraqi Government runs a propaganda machine involving a high level of sophistication and also a high level of cynicism.
A tragic example was the tactic used during the last Gulf War of co-locating civilians and military targets and then allowing CNN to film the horrific consequences.
Other techniques include creating the impression that the Iraqi authorities are co-operating with the UN weapons inspectors and blaming UN sanctions for the widespread suffering among Iraq's civilian population, especially children, when in reality at least some of that suffering has been caused by the Iraqi Government itself.
Here again, foreign journalists whose movements are heavily restricted are used to get the message across.
Michael Vickers is director of Strategic Studies at the Center for Strategic and Budget Assessments in Washington.
MICHAEL VICKERS: Well, they use it as an element of strategy and so they try to target various audiences.
One, bolster their own population against a prospective US and allied invasion.
Second, try to divide Arab allies from the US.
And three, try to divide Europeans and others from the US. So they've got a fairly broad campaign.
HAMISH ROBERTSON: So it's a fairly safe bet that the Iraqi people are not getting the full story about the weapons inspections process and have not been allowed access to Western reports of human rights abuses carried out by their own Government.
But there are conflicting views on how effective Iraqi propaganda has been in influencing opinion, either inside Iraq or elsewhere, despite the substantial public opposition in many Western nations to military action against the Baghdad Government.
Patrick Garrett is a defence analyst with the Washington-based think-tank, GlobalSecurity.org.
PATRICK GARRETT: Well, it's extremely difficult for one on the outside to be able to do some polling within Iraq to see exactly how they feel about Saddam Hussein's regime and the information that they're getting from him.
However, if you look at the fact that Saddam Hussein's statements, or the Iraqi government's statements have had on the Western community, well it's had very little impact in the United States, or at least very little noticeable impact.
It seems to have had quite a bit of success in some countries within Europe. They 're beginning to doubt the necessity of actually using military force against Iraq, and they're much more willing to take a longer of why, you know, draw out the inspections and give it more time.
They perceive any sort of little bit of cooperation on the part of Iraq as being in good faith whereas they're a little bit more likely to buy into Iraq's perspective of the United States as somebody who's more interested in pursuing a war than trying to safeguard national security or international security.
HAMISH ROBERTSON: But Michael Vickers believes that the strength of anti-war sentiment in Britain and other European nations should not be attributed to Iraq's propaganda machine, and that propaganda can only have an influence at the margin.
PATRICK GARRETT: I think it has a greater effect, for example, on, on some governments in reminding them of obligations they might have with Iraq. But you know, where there's a weak ally or they might go in that direction anyway, then propaganda can push over, to some extent. But I don't think it really creates, you know, it can assist anti-war movements or assist certain policy positions, but I don't think it can really create them.
JOHN HIGHFIELD: Michael Vickers is the director of Strategic Studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington. And tomorrow, Hamish Robertson will be looking at how a war with Iraq will be an "information war" where psychological operations, "Psy-Ops" in military jargon, could play a decisive part.
Copyright © 2003, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
