Cross-posted at DailyKos.
Reports the BBC:
US army to produce Mid-East comic
The US military is planning to win the hearts of young people in the Middle East by publishing a new comic.
An advertisement on the US government’s Federal Business Opportunities website is inviting applications for someone to develop an “original comic book series”. …
“[The series] provides the opportunity for youth to learn lessons, develop role models and improve their education.”
[It is] a collaborative effort with the US Army, which says it has already done initial character and plot development … based on “the security forces, military and police, in the near future in the Middle East” and is being produced by US Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina [home to the army’s 4th Psychological Operations Group].
CAPTION: “The army comic may encounter competition from Arab superheroes created by an Egyptian publisher.” (More on the new Egyptian comics below.)
FIRST: I could post this simply as an across-the-bow shot at military psyops. But that’s a cheap shot. We all use psyops, right? So, beyond the obvious:
PRWatch.org sums up this new psyop venture:
The BBC continues:
[The ad says] the successful applicant will ideally need to have experience of law enforcement and “small unit military operations” – along with a knowledge of Arab language and cultures.
The aim is to involve the ministries of interior of some of Middle East countries.
The army is aiming to test initial comics on focus groups and based on their success or otherwise, will either be developed further or dropped completely.
The BBC describes a potential rival for the US Army — AKComics (in English and Arabic) — “a new Egyptian publishing venture which has created what it bills as the first Arab superheroes“:
AK Comics says its goal is “to fill the cultural gap created over the years by providing essentially Arab role models, in our case, Arab superheroes to become a source of pride to our young generations.”
From Garry Leech’s “Informers for a Day,” itself a piece of anti-government propaganda published in a 2003 issue of Colombia Journal Online:
In war-torn Saravena, a town of 30,000 in [eastern Colombia], [c]hildren have become the focal point of Psychological Warfare Operations (PsyOps) [by] the Colombian army in this embattled town that is currently home to 40 U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers … as part of the Bush administration’s global war on terror.
[T]hese programs are not only geared to winning over the “hearts and minds” … they are also being used to elicit information from the civilian population, especially children, about rebel activities …
[T]wo soldiers dressed in colorful red and yellow clown outfits accompanied by uniformed troops went door to door handing out leaflets offering rewards to residents willing to provide information on rebel activities. Armed with a large bag of candy, the clowns befriended [children] while nervous parents looked on. …
While the PsyOp in San Luis targeted the general population, another program [Soldier for a Day] specifically targets children, between three and 12 years of age, [who] are brought to the army base every Thursday to play soldier.
The activities include Colombian troops and uniformed army psychologists placing camouflage headbands on the heads of the children and painting their faces with camouflage make-up. [T]wo soldiers dressed in clown suits entertain the children. [After] a dip in the camp pool, the children are trucked around the base on top of an armored personnel carrier fully-equipped with a 50-caliber machine gun. …
COMIX35, a Christian comics training and consultancy ministry, offers numerous examples of the power of comic books, among them:
A comic book entitled “Al Asesino Escondido” (“The Hidden Killer”) instructs children in Central America about the threat of land mines. The comic book, starring Superman and Wonder Woman, was produced by the US Department of Defense [for] children in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras. [540,000 copies] were published in the second partnership of DoD, UNICEF and DC Comics. A similar comic book [promoted] mine awareness in Bosnia-Herzegovina. (US Department of Defense “Defense Link,” American Forces Information Service News Article, June ’98)
You can view a fascinating history and images of cartoons from World War II at “World War II Propaganda, Cartoons, Film, Music, & Art” — from anti-Semitic children’s literature published in Germany [IMAGE], and the Nazi education and indoctrination of German Youth to WWII cartoons in the U.S., from Looney Tunes to Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.
In defense of psyops, via NATO’s site, there’s “Minding the matter”:
[C]ivilian and military personnel work together creating original ideas to help promote a positive attitude in BiH [Bosnia and Herzegovina]. Illustrator Staff Sgt. Dario Stohlmeier, German Army, said … “It’s good work,” [as] he sits before a poster he helped design [of] two penguins standing together [for the] Sarajevo Film Festival. The penguins are the main characters of a tolerance animation clip [for] the children’s portion of the festival.
A puzzling instance of psyops (for naught?) that I found is this from the 361st Psychological Operations Company — from my home state of Washington (Bothell, WA) — reported in May 2003:
One soldier was kissed on the cheek and two others had their ears pulled and noses pinched [on] morning street patrol in Al-Fallujah.
It’s not exactly the kind of treatment soldiers expect [but] that’s how the Iraqi children showed their affection for the soldiers. … The soldiers are from the 361st Psychological Operations Company, USAR, based in Bothell, Wash [and] members of Task Force Gauntlet. [Gen’l William Wallace] sent the task force to the city to restore order and stability following anti-U.S. riots and escalating violence.
The task force [was] able to dramatically reduce the violence and helped restore stability [and] were the first soldiers to go into the city streets to greet citizens following an April 30 grenade attack …
“[W]e went out into the city as a 3-man team, with a small security element, to meet and greet the people and tried to win their hearts and minds. We tried to get them to talk to us and feel comfortable with us, to let them see our faces and build trust with them,” McGinn said.
They drove through Al-Fallujah’s neighborhoods broadcasting pre-recorded messages in Arabic about a citywide curfew. They also went on raids. …
[The soldiers] passed out brochures with coalition messages printed in Arabic to adults and messages about the dangers of unexploded ordinance [attracting] a large following of giggling children, boisterous youths and inquisitive adults …
“The Iraqi people are a very touchy-feely people,” said Fyfe. “They get right up in your face when they talk to you. Sometimes they want to put their arms around you and it’s our job to embrace that 100 percent. We bring a security element to watch our back so we can be the ones to let our guard down and allow them to put their arms around us.”
What to say.
SEE ALSO:
- “The Return of PSYOPS, Military’s media manipulation demands more investigation,” FAIR Media Advisory, December 2004
- home page for the US Army Civil Affairs and
Psychological Operations Command - Global Security‘s Info on the 361st and other psyop units
Remember that story on Bechtel painting a school in Iraq with characters from the Disney movie Aladdin? I thought that was a little sick. Don’t the Iraqis have their own culture, their own stories? Do they really need prefabricated comic books and American movie characters?
And I love that they are looking for “someone to develop an “original comic book series”. It rings a bit of the “astro-turf movements” mimicking organic grassroots movements. Its not orginal if its written for this kind of purpose. It PSYOPS, and a part of PSYOPS is promoting an image. Orginal is an image. There would be nothing authentic about a comic book put out for these reasons. And I think the Iraqi children will see through this.
I’ve of two minds about it. Passing out a million comic books beats the hell out of dropping bombs. And it can’t hurt to have a little oppo enculturation to oppose the extremist Muslim movement in Iraq and the madrasa schools. But, it needs to be very collaborative and — as stated in the BBC article — thoroughly tested to see if kids go for the comics.
I’m more opposed to who is doing it than what is being done. If there were, as you say, a collaborative partnership, like between education and cultural communities in the west with theirs, than it would be an exchange of sorts which could be beneficial. But coming from the military… not everything has to be done by the military. And their influences and motivations will be different than if it were set up between, as I said, communities with a more human bent.
If they drink enough Coca-Cola they will love the American occupation, is that the idea? I wonder if there is any evidence that such a thing is true? And if it was wouldn’t it be better to use an existing established comic book company like Marvel or DC? They already have Arabic superheroes. I bet they already sell in Arabic markets too.
Or is the idea that the actual plots in these comics are going to be explicitly pro-US occupation? That just sounds like a crappy propaganda sheet. Who’d read that barf?
I got this link from this link.
In the first link, which is a gov’t desciption of the job, some of the following is stated:
This effort certainly has an agenda. Why else to have focus groups? What are they looking to achieve, what kind of response are they seeking? Entertainment? Values?
What I see, and this is only me, is a reflection of the past ie. Nazi Germany, Mussolini, and all the modern tyrants.
Look at the diary, and you not only see what’s going on in the middle east, but in South America, and probably so in the Phillipines. Uniformed/Armed gaurds at the locations, painting the children to be “soldier of the day”
Now maybe I’m somewhat of an alarmest, but just stop and think here. It’s military, people in uniforms all over the world. Yes I understand that psyops has been used, for good, in situations, but that was during a world war period, as well they have been used for complete evil.
I fear that this “spread of democracy” as the fearless leader Bush has stated, is nothing more than a ploy for world control by the NeoCons, and all for greed, naught for good.
These are my feelings, and I will stick by them. I do NOT get a good feeling, ya know, that “warm and fuzzy” thingy, about one damned thing this group is doing.
Let’s put a “Veri-Chip” in everyone, control what they read, track every penny a person makes, spends, invests, and hopes to retire on, and see what the Power Mongers can do to control every aspect of life, and what THEY can make, (profit) from it.
I do not like it, one bit.
Why the heck not, I have law enforcement experience, love comix, know more than I need to about the middle east- but I can’t draw worth a darn. Where’s Anachroanarchist when ya need him.