War on Terror, Year Five: Media War of Hearts and Minds Not Yet Successful
By John E. Carey
September 9, 2006
We at Peace and Freedom have been wondering why the terrorists seem to have the upper hand in the media campaign for “Hearts and Minds” in the terror war. Why is it that the “World’s Only Superpower†and its allies seem unable to mount a media campaign to counter the terrorists and their claims?
The ability to communicate effectively and on a mass scale during an asymmetric war, like the war against terror, is often considered part of the “Hearts and Minds†campaign. In other words, nations mount efforts to convince masses of people that they are right in their cause.
The trick is to influence the public opinion of the enemy. But the United States has conducted this element of the war on terror so badly that the enemy actually has more followers now than it had in 2001.
The United States conceded that it “lost†the battle for “Hearts and Minds†in Iraq as early as December, 2004. In the December 5, 2004 issue of the Sunday Herald in Scotland, reporter Neil Mackay wrote that the U.S. Defence Science Board concluded that “in the war of ideas or the struggle for hearts and minds, American efforts have not only failed, they may also have achieved the opposite of what they intended.â€
Of the war in southern Afghanistan, BBC reporter Jonathan Marcus wrote on September 4, 2006 “This really is a battle for the hearts and minds of ordinary people.â€
Israel believes very deeply in the so called “Hearts and Minds†war; especially now that Hezbollah has demonstrated a superior ability to influence public opinion. One of Israel’s leading voices on this is Dr. Boaz Ganor.
We got to know Dr. Ganor at the onset of the war against Hezbollah.
Boaz is deputy dean of the Lauder School of Government and Diplomacy at the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, Israel. He also is the founder and executive director of the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), and is a member of Israel’s National Committee for Homeland Security Technologies, of the International Advisory Board of the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, (IDSS), Singapore, and was a member of the International Advisory team of the Manhattan Institute (CTCT) to the New-York Police Department (NYPD).
Boaz believes, “Terrorism is a combination of two factors – motivation and operational capability. Current global strategies to combat terrorism only focus on beating the operational capabilities but not the motivation. These strategies only buy time but do not solve the problem; if the motivation still exists they will find new methods to carry out attacks.”
Boaz believes a “Hearts and Minds†campaign can and must be mounted, in order to influence the beliefs of the enemy and the masses of people he relies upon for aid, assistance and support.
Dr. Ganor is the host for the sixth annual International Conference on Global Terrorism which will take place in Herzliya, Israel, on September 11–14, 2006. Issues related to the battle for “Hearts and Minds” will be central to the discussion.
So how are we, the United States, doing in our “Hearts and Minds†media campaign?
Not very well. Yesterday Colonel David Hunt, the Fox News analyst, joined a growing chorus of those who believe the U.S. has utterly failed so far in its “Hearts and Minds†effort.
“The terrorists are beating us to a pulp in the Public Relations (P.R.) of the war on Terror,†said Colonel Hunt on the Fox News Channel on Friday afternoon, September 8, 2006. “The fact that Osama bin Laden can release a tape today, and we basically have no response, makes me wonder how effective we have been in P.R.â€
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recently mused, “The enemy is so much better at communicating. I wish we were better at countering that because the constant drumbeat of things they say — all of which are not true — is harmful.”
“It’s cumulative. It weakens people’s will and lessens their determination, and raises questions in their minds as to whether the cost is worth it.†Mr. Rumsfeld also said, the ability of terror groups to “manipulate the media keeps me up at night.â€
On August 29, 2006, President George W. Bush told NBC News reporter Brian Williams, “We are great with TV but we are getting crushed on the P.R. [Public Relations] front.â€
This doesn’t sound like a team of winners.
There is a U.S. political media campaign for the “Hearts and Minds” of American voters. On September 9, 2006, The New York Times featured an article by David E. Sanger and Shertl Gay Stolberg with the title “Before Speeches, a Bush Strategy to Regain Edge.” (see below)
But for the most part, this campaign is aimed at the internal American audience.
We were reinvigorated when Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff gave an excellent speech at Georgetown University September 8. We phoned DHS Public Affairs at about 11 AM and asked them for a copy of the speech text, informing them that we were writing a commentary essay on the 5th Anniversary of 9/11 for The Washington Times.
DHS told us they would email the secretary’s speech text “within the hour.â€
Three hours later, because no speech text arrived and we were on deadline, we called DHS again. This time we spoke to someone new. We reiterated our original request.
We also went to the DHS web site and filled out an email request.
Even after the second phone request and the email, we never did get our promised email copy of Secretary Chertoff’s speech.
Meanwhile: the foreign media like Agence France-Presse (AFP), al-Jazeera and other networks were already putting a negative spin on a very solid Chertoff speech.
One headline, “Security Against Terror Impossible,†is emblematic of how the international media took about one percent of the Chertoff speech to spin the entire event into a very negative story.
Without the speech text in hand, we were helpless to rebut AFP and others. Several of our colleagues among the American journalists expressed dismay.
There is supposed to be a battle of “Hearts and Minds” imbedded into the war on terror. But when AFP can spin a good speech to the negative and the U.S. government along with friendly reporters and journalists cannot respond in time to do any good, one wonders how committed the U.S. is to the battle of “Hearts and Minds.â€
One Comment
john Carey
War on Terror, Year Five: Media War of Hearts and Minds Not Yet Successful
By John E. Carey
September 9, 2006
We at Peace and Freedom have been wondering why the terrorists seem to have the upper hand in the media campaign for “Hearts and Minds” in the terror war. Why is it that the “World’s Only Superpower†and its allies seem unable to mount a media campaign to counter the terrorists and their claims?
The ability to communicate effectively and on a mass scale during an asymmetric war, like the war against terror, is often considered part of the “Hearts and Minds†campaign. In other words, nations mount efforts to convince masses of people that they are right in their cause.
The trick is to influence the public opinion of the enemy. But the United States has conducted this element of the war on terror so badly that the enemy actually has more followers now than it had in 2001.
The United States conceded that it “lost†the battle for “Hearts and Minds†in Iraq as early as December, 2004. In the December 5, 2004 issue of the Sunday Herald in Scotland, reporter Neil Mackay wrote that the U.S. Defence Science Board concluded that “in the war of ideas or the struggle for hearts and minds, American efforts have not only failed, they may also have achieved the opposite of what they intended.â€
Of the war in southern Afghanistan, BBC reporter Jonathan Marcus wrote on September 4, 2006 “This really is a battle for the hearts and minds of ordinary people.â€
Israel believes very deeply in the so called “Hearts and Minds†war; especially now that Hezbollah has demonstrated a superior ability to influence public opinion. One of Israel’s leading voices on this is Dr. Boaz Ganor.
We got to know Dr. Ganor at the onset of the war against Hezbollah.
Boaz is deputy dean of the Lauder School of Government and Diplomacy at the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, Israel. He also is the founder and executive director of the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), and is a member of Israel’s National Committee for Homeland Security Technologies, of the International Advisory Board of the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, (IDSS), Singapore, and was a member of the International Advisory team of the Manhattan Institute (CTCT) to the New-York Police Department (NYPD).
Boaz believes, “Terrorism is a combination of two factors – motivation and operational capability. Current global strategies to combat terrorism only focus on beating the operational capabilities but not the motivation. These strategies only buy time but do not solve the problem; if the motivation still exists they will find new methods to carry out attacks.”
Boaz believes a “Hearts and Minds†campaign can and must be mounted, in order to influence the beliefs of the enemy and the masses of people he relies upon for aid, assistance and support.
Dr. Ganor is the host for the sixth annual International Conference on Global Terrorism which will take place in Herzliya, Israel, on September 11–14, 2006. Issues related to the battle for “Hearts and Minds” will be central to the discussion.
So how are we, the United States, doing in our “Hearts and Minds†media campaign?
Not very well. Yesterday Colonel David Hunt, the Fox News analyst, joined a growing chorus of those who believe the U.S. has utterly failed so far in its “Hearts and Minds†effort.
“The terrorists are beating us to a pulp in the Public Relations (P.R.) of the war on Terror,†said Colonel Hunt on the Fox News Channel on Friday afternoon, September 8, 2006. “The fact that Osama bin Laden can release a tape today, and we basically have no response, makes me wonder how effective we have been in P.R.â€
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recently mused, “The enemy is so much better at communicating. I wish we were better at countering that because the constant drumbeat of things they say — all of which are not true — is harmful.”
“It’s cumulative. It weakens people’s will and lessens their determination, and raises questions in their minds as to whether the cost is worth it.†Mr. Rumsfeld also said, the ability of terror groups to “manipulate the media keeps me up at night.â€
On August 29, 2006, President George W. Bush told NBC News reporter Brian Williams, “We are great with TV but we are getting crushed on the P.R. [Public Relations] front.â€
This doesn’t sound like a team of winners.
There is a U.S. political media campaign for the “Hearts and Minds” of American voters. On September 9, 2006, The New York Times featured an article by David E. Sanger and Shertl Gay Stolberg with the title “Before Speeches, a Bush Strategy to Regain Edge.” (see below)
But for the most part, this campaign is aimed at the internal American audience.
We were reinvigorated when Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff gave an excellent speech at Georgetown University September 8. We phoned DHS Public Affairs at about 11 AM and asked them for a copy of the speech text, informing them that we were writing a commentary essay on the 5th Anniversary of 9/11 for The Washington Times.
DHS told us they would email the secretary’s speech text “within the hour.â€
Three hours later, because no speech text arrived and we were on deadline, we called DHS again. This time we spoke to someone new. We reiterated our original request.
We also went to the DHS web site and filled out an email request.
Even after the second phone request and the email, we never did get our promised email copy of Secretary Chertoff’s speech.
Meanwhile: the foreign media like Agence France-Presse (AFP), al-Jazeera and other networks were already putting a negative spin on a very solid Chertoff speech.
One headline, “Security Against Terror Impossible,†is emblematic of how the international media took about one percent of the Chertoff speech to spin the entire event into a very negative story.
Without the speech text in hand, we were helpless to rebut AFP and others. Several of our colleagues among the American journalists expressed dismay.
There is supposed to be a battle of “Hearts and Minds” imbedded into the war on terror. But when AFP can spin a good speech to the negative and the U.S. government along with friendly reporters and journalists cannot respond in time to do any good, one wonders how committed the U.S. is to the battle of “Hearts and Minds.â€
http://peace-and-freedom.blogspot.com/