The Press Democrat July 17, 2003
Deputy D.A. Medvigy spreads U.S. message in Iraq
Sonoma County reservist heads psychological operations
By Guy Kovner
More than 50 million leaflets fluttered through the Iraqi skies, dropped from airplanes and helicopters and bearing wartime messages to the civilians and soldiers below.
Some urged troops to abandon their weapons; some advised civilians to "remain in the safety of your homes."
Leaflets promised safety to surrendering troops. Some included strategic messages, telling people -- in pictures and Arabic words -- they would be killed if they tried to repair fiber-optic cable, crucial to Iraqi military communications.
It was part of the semisecret psychological warfare campaign supporting the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and Gary Medvigy, a Sonoma County prosecutor in civilian life, was in the brain of the beast.
Far from the green hills of western Sonoma County that he calls home, Medvigy, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, has for the past four months plotted the propaganda campaign that helped topple Saddam Hussein's regime. Now, he said, he's helping build a democratic government in its place.
"It's an art," Medvigy, 47, said Wednesday in a telephone interview from Central Command headquarters in Qatar. "There are effective products," he said, likening military psychological operations -- known as psy-ops -- to marketing.
It's also akin to his work as deputy district attorney, convincing juries of a defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In 15 years as a Sonoma County prosecutor, he handled drug, gang and child sexual assault cases, including the conviction of former priest Don Kimball that was just erased by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Today Medvigy endures duty at the fortified Central Command facility, a penitentiarylike place in the 100-plus-degree heat and talcum-fine sand of the Qatar desert.
A reservist since 1992, he's on his second major deployment, having spent nearly eight months in Bosnia in 1997-98. His orders are for a year or two, and this week's decision to delay an infantry division's homecoming has everyone wondering how long it will be abroad.
Most of his work is classified, but Medvigy, commander of the 14th Psychological Operations Battalion based in peacetime at Moffett Field, near Sunnyvale, described some tactics, including his 13-hour flight over Iraq aboard a C-130 Commando Solo aircraft, beaming radio and television messages to the population below.
Psy-ops in Iraq ranged from high-tech electronics aboard the $70 million converted cargo planes to the low-tech, dangerous duty of a soldier toting a loudspeaker to talk to Iraqis in cities and towns.
During the war, he said, Americans sent messages to Iraqi commanders on their own cell phones. Solar-powered radios were distributed to civilians so they could hear U.S. broadcasts.
The Commando Solo aircraft have returned to Pennsylvania. Psy-ops broadcasting has shifted to ground-based facilities, likely to continue operating as long as U.S. forces are in Iraq, Medvigy said.
Whatever the medium, the message is propaganda. Psychological operations are "the dissemination of truthful information to foreign audiences in support of U.S. policy and national objectives," according to a U.S. Army Web site.
Long before the shooting started in Iraq on March 20, leaflets were pouring from coalition airplanes and helicopters.
One showed photos of Saddam on his throne and a woman clutching a baby, with the caption: "He lives in splendor as your family struggles to survive."
Several leaflets depicted a fiery death for soldiers manning tanks and artillery, and some gave instructions on how to surrender.
Medvigy, who has a bachelor's degree in psychology, believes they made a difference. Civilians mostly stayed clear of coalition forces, and some soldiers did exactly as the leaflets advised, he said.
Overall, the Iraqi army -- with reportedly 400,000 personnel -- put up scant resistance.
"You end up saving their lives; you end up saving our lives," Medvigy said. "That's worthwhile."
Not everyone agrees.
The belief that psy-ops saved lives hinges on the assumption that war was necessary, said Christopher Simpson, professor of communication at American University and an expert on military propaganda.
"It's an illusion," he said.
George Smith, a senior fellow with GlobalSecurity.org, a defense think tank, said the strong language and vivid scenes in the leaflets may have been more frightening than convincing.
The ongoing radio and TV campaign may not impress a population accustomed to decades of totalitarian control, including state-run media. "They wouldn't necessarily believe anything the Americans tell them at this point," Smith said.
Medvigy maintains that the Army's mind warfare is "almost 100 percent truthful communications."
Psy-ops will be involved in stabilizing Iraq and establishing a democracy. Medvigy's soldiers will help spread the word when elections are held, he said.
Despite the violence that dominates the news, Medvigy said most of the country is pacified and accepts the presence of U.S. and British troops. "Kids throw kisses, want to touch me, take my autograph, thank me," he said.
He can't say how long it will take, but if a moderate Arab government -- like that in Egypt, Qatar or Jordan -- develops in Iraq, the world and the Middle East will be safer, he said.
You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or gkovner@pressdemocrat.com.
Copyright © 2003, The Press Democrat
