Information Warfare: March 24, 2003

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Email was initially seen as another way to get subversive messages to senior Iraqi officials. Iraq has only had email access since 1999, and only 12,000 "loyal" Iraqis have access. Along with leaflets, the mass media and personal contacts via Iraqi exiles, the object was to convince Iraqi officers to not fight, to not use chemical and biological weapons and to understate that the U.S. was liberating Iraq, not conquering it. But before long, it was noted that some of the email was getting answered. The Iraqi exiles were then used as couriers as well as email correspondents and by the time American and British troops entered Iraq negotiations were under way with numerous Iraqi officers and officials. How extensive, and successful, this email campaign is will not be known until the war is over, but it is a novel way to defeat an enemy army.