A New IO Strategy: Prevention and Disengagement
Abstract
Recent events in the Middle East and Iraq have witnessed soaring Iraqi casualty rates and most recently, increasing export of terrorism outside Iraq's borders. More importantly, we are currently letting the terrorist and insurgents pick the time and place of their information operations in today's Iraq. We appear to be fighting the enemy's fight, and only addressing the symptoms and not the causes of the larger battle by cleverly copying enemy fliers, or mirroring their themes in our psychological operations efforts. We must not continue to "fight their fight." One insurgent video shows an IED attack from the triggerman's vantage point as he waits for the right moment to detonate a bomb inside a car down a busy Baghdad street. After U.S. soldiers pass by, a young boy and a girl walk between them and the car. The bomber does not hesitate to detonate; in the last frame, a fireball roars up the street toward the boy and girl. The deeper "information" significance for us is that it clearly shows that young "insurgents-for-hire" are increasingly killing other Iraqi youths. We often overlook key scenes in enemy video that can be used by the Iraqi Government to inform and influence. We could put out our own videos highlighting the carnage from these attacks. But this would only highlight that we are failing to protect the average Iraqi citizen. We could emphasize that the terrorists are contravening religious precepts from the Quran and Hadith. But religious motivation appears to be less of a factor in suicide bombings than previously thought; the question of jihad appears interpretive for the enemy. We must adopt and overall framework or new way of looking at information operations. Therefore, an innovative IO campaign which prevents the recruitment of Islamic jihadists and paid-for-hire insurgents inside Iraq as well as disengages them in custody seems increasingly imperative in this new context. Innovative informing and not just influencing programs will be important.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA521908
Entities
People
- Cheryl Benard
- Ed O'connell
Organizations
- RAND Corporation