May 18, 2007:
The decision not to send Cornet Harry
Wales ("Prince Harry" to the media) to Iraq, in the face of threats
against him, has caused the British Army a significant loss of face. Once
again, terrorists have managed to manipulate a Western democracy through the
adept manipulation of that country's media. It is a disturbingly familiar
pattern in recent years, and there is a question that naturally arises. Can
anything be done about it? Sadly, it seems unlikely.
The media strategy is often used by terrorists that
have no hope of winning on the battlefield. It needs to be noted that al Qaeda
has shifted to high-profile attacks. In many cases, these do not have the
objective of winning. Their objective instead is to make some big headlines in
American and British papers or provide dramatic footage that will be aired on
al Jazeera and picked up by the Western media. The aftermath of the 1993
firefight in Mogadishu is a classic example. American troops won the firefight
despite taking some casualties, but the images of American troops being dragged
through the streets spooked the politicians and forced a withdrawal that
al-Qaeda used as a rallying point.
Al Qaeda hopes to eventually generate the same
reaction in Iraq and eventually Afghanistan as well. Their recent kidnapping of
three American soldiers - as well as their attacks with chlorine gas - are
meant to rack up a high body count. Americans are preferred, but Iraqi
civilians will do. The point is to make the violence seem unstoppable. Their
decision to target bridges in Mosul is another example. Destroying a bridge is
a sure headline grabber - and makes for nice footage.
Can such a media strategy be countered? In the
Western media, it is a very difficult task. Media outlets in the United States
pride themselves as being independent. In 2005, the reporters who broke stories
that compromised several intelligence programs won Pulitzer Prizes. Some
mainstream media outlets have opposed the war in Iraq from the start. This
opposition was increased due to the failure to immediately find weapons of mass
destruction added to the media's growing doubts.
As long as al-Qaeda detonated IEDs in Iraq and
Afghanistan, they could increase the perception of a quagmire. By getting the
media to focus on the IEDs-of-the-day, al Qaeda was able to bury the good news
(like the training of the Iraqi Army and reconstruction efforts), and was able
to weather the loss of senior leaders like Abu Musab al Zarqawi.
In the case of keeping Cornet Wales from deploying
with his unit, it did not take any IEDs. He was kept home via the use of
threats by a terrorist whose claims were repeated by the media. Eventually,
senior British Army officers flinched. This is a major victory for the
terrorists in Iraq - one that did not require a single IED or even a shot. -
Harold C. Hutchison ([email protected])