Knowledge Brings Fear

Horror dick size war

The world has deteriorated to the point that the pictures that I would normally expect on rotten.com (link not suitable for the more sensible readers) are on the title pages of the mainstream press. While it is certainly necessary to show the horrors of war in order to end it, the latest development feels like a dick size war with horrible pictures.

Psychological warfare operations of all sides are no longer aimed at inducing sympathy or solidarity. It is now all about fear. Very fitting to the overall US strategy that no longer aims at getting cooperation but at scaring the arab countries into submission. The islamist radicals have precisely understood that they can use the same method as well, just on a different scale.

Brutally beheading some random american guy in Iraq, just for the sake of producing a Psyops video is not a entirely new concept. Showing the scalps or heads of killed enemies to scare attackers is a more or less traditional concept of psychological warfare, known for instance from the wars of the Roman Empire.

The torture and killing of prisoners during interrogations in Guantanamo and Afghanistan were more or less common knowledge, and it can be assumed that some of the early reports have been deliberate leaks, to make sure that potential "terrorists" know what awaits them. That the same methods have been used in Iraq is not surprising. (Actually, the system of breaking a prisoner has been outlined long ago in the relevant manuals ).

The breakdown of media control over Iraq is to a large extend due to digital cameras, blogs and the Internet. Just one guy with a small camera at the right place can ruin the whole official story. Large media outlets can no longer afford to not report stories that are showing up on the net in force. US psyops is now trying to muddle the pool by distributing lots of faked torture images to then claim that all of them are fake. It will be interesting to see if they succeed, at least for the US domestic opinion.

The escalation of visual terror reminds on the warfare methods of past centuries, just adapted to the media age. What we see here is the litmus test wether civilization and enlightenment have actually managed to change the major consensus of society. The only sensible answer is to force the western governments to choose a more sensible foreign policy. But more likely people will turn away in disgust and shame and everything will go on as before, just with better prohibition of cameras in the detention centers.

(Respect to the swiss government which delivered a stern reprimand to the ambassadors of the US and UK for the violation of the Geneva Convention.)

PS: There is new data coming up, suggesting that the beheading video was a forgery. I haven't made up my mind yet, but read for yourself here . If this becomes mainstream news, some PsyOps officers might be re-assigned to radar station cleaning duty in Alaska.