Psychological Warfare - The MindWar (MW) Concept and Application

My previous post regarding MW as a concept ended with identifying the correlation between the MIC (Military Industrial Complex) and war profiting through PW methodologies and practice. Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet, we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military—industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

As subsequent history evidences, Ike’s warning (Eisenhower, President Dwight D., Farewell Address, January 17, 1961.) was not heeded, or simply came too late. Indeed the principal, if not exclusive driving force for modern, industrialized nations’ wars today is economic advantage and profit, with socio-political themes such as “freedom”, “democracy”, and “national security” merely providing a propaganda veneer to distract and inflame the public. John F. Kennedy’s fate after officially deciding to end U.S. military involvement in Vietnam has not been lost on his successors in the White House. Such is the 1980 MW prospectus in its most simplified form.

While in the subsequent decade there was no reason to anticipate that such research would have any official effect upon U.S. PSYOP doctrine within or beyond the Army, several of its prescriptions were applied during the first Gulf War, and recently even more conspicuously during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In both instances intense PSYOP was directed against the object of the attack, while a simultaneous “Public Affairs” effort was made to shield U.S. domestic public opinion from the type of independent, critical media coverage that plagued the ‘Vietnam War, by “embedding” journalists with military "units to inevitably channel their perspectives and perceptions.

The impact of even these minor techniques of MW was remarkable. A psychological climate of inexorable US. victory was created and sustained in both the United Sates and Iraq, which accelerated that outcome on the ground. Somewhat less positively, the failure of MW in this instance to be guided by only the most rigorous principles of truth and ethics has just as inexorably led to a substantial post-invasion evaporation of that euphoric climate.

Therein lies the Achilles’ heel of MW. Invoking as it does the most intense emotions and commitments of its audiences, it must deliver the goods as they are judged by the target audiences. If the ethical values of those audiences are not respected - if MW is used only in the service of ulterior motives and objectives — the resulting “disintoxication” can be socially shattering.