[infowar.de] CNN 30.09.02: Pentagon plans assault on Iraqi loyalty

[Georg Schoefbaenker <schoefbaenker -! - aon - at>]

Infowar.de, http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~bendrath/liste.html
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http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/09/30/iraq.psy.ops/index.html


Pentagon plans assault on Iraqi loyalty

 From Barbara Starr (CNN Washington Bureau)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon plans a major psychological operations 
campaign against Iraqi military officers and key military units to convince 
them not to fire chemical or biological weapons if their country is 
attacked, Pentagon sources say.

For some weeks now, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has been urging the 
Iraqi military to disobey any orders from Saddam Hussein to launch weapons, 
sources tell CNN.

Rumsfeld has repeatedly pointed out that Saddam would order and delegate 
any such launch to Iraqi military units he considers loyal. Undercutting 
that loyalty is the focus of the U.S. campaign, which will try to point out 
that the Iraqi military has too much to lose if it engages in chemical or 
biological warfare.

The U.S. message will suggest Iraqi soldiers may retain a role after 
Saddam's eventual fall from power if they disobey any of his orders to 
fire, according to sources. By contrast, the U.S. will hold accountable 
those who participate in launching Iraqi weapons, sources say.

The U.S. effort will include continued public statements by Rumsfeld, 
covert approaches by the U.S. intelligence community and a major campaign 
to drop leaflets from the air inside Iraq, sources say.

The U.S. has used leafleting in other conflicts, including most recently in 
Afghanistan, and considers them successful tools at changing public sentiment.


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