Strategic Communication & War - The US Efforts in Contemporary Propaganda Operations
Successful strategic communication is important to ensure the success of US foreign policy and to promote US legitimacy. However, the underfunded institution has not been effective in promoting American influence across the globe. Since the end of the Cold War, the United States (US) has been failing to promote the things they state and do to support their objectives (Paul, 2011). The result is a loss of focus in public diplomacy and strategic communications as well as the reduction in American global influence. American strategic communication is important because it is used by the US government to understand global attitudes and cultures, engage in a dialogue of ideas between people and institutions and institutions, advise policymakers, diplomats, and military leaders on the public opinion implications of policy choices (Paul, 2008). Both Gulf Wars and the Global War on Terror (GWOT) has left the US too preoccupied to effectively spread American influence.
According to Paul (2011), one of the greatest challenges of our time is the threat of violent extremism and the effort to counter it. US policies and actions are increasingly seen by the overwhelming majority of Muslims as a threat to the survival of Islam itself (Paul, 2008). So, after the 9/11 terror attack, the US have found itself locked into a war of ideology with the extremist views, which includes radical Islamic terrorist groups such as al Qaeda and ISIS. It has become increasing clear that it will take more than smart bombs and unmanned drones to defeat terrorism. This is the predominant military driven mantra which enacts contemporary US foreign policy.
Much of the military driven studies advocate that the US will have to attack the terrorism support base by swaying young Islamic populations from adapting extremist views. This must be done through careful coordination of messages, images, and other forms of signal engagement that makes up strategic communication (Paul, 2011). However, it has been increasing difficult because ISIS and other terror groups have been waging a bloody propaganda campaign by ceremoniously executing people they deem infidels and posting it on the internet. Despite the increasing violence, the US has been slow to understand the nature of countering ISIS propaganda. As ISIS spread their caliphate, the US has experimented with extreme measures to undermine it.
Methods to undermine ISIS propaganda has resulted in a video released by the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC), a special unit of the State Department. The video is called "Welcome to the ISIS Land," which had images that were previously posted by ISIS and is being used as an anti ISIS propaganda video. The video’s opening scene stated that you must “Run, do not walk, to ISIS Land.” It went on to say, new arrivals will learn useful skills such as “crucifying and executing Muslims” as well as “blowing up mosques.” The video initially appeared as another ISIS propaganda video, which depicts graphic images of the terrorist group’s atrocities: kneeling prisoners shot point blank; severed heads positioned next to a propped up corpse; limp bodies left hanging from crosses in public squares (Miller & Higham, 2015). However, the video closed with “the U.S. Department of State.”
“Welcome to the ISIS Land” was in some ways a breakthrough for the U.S. government after years of futility in attempting to compete with the propaganda of alQaeda and its offshoots (Miller & Higham, 2015). However, it has become a flashpoint in a much broader debate about how far the US should go to counter terrorist propaganda. Many would classify this as a failure in US strategic communication and their attempt to turn the support of extremist ideas by stooping to ISIS’s level and recreating their barbarism. The fallout has put the US government in a frustratingly familiar position, searching yet again for a messaging strategy that might resonate with aggrieved Muslims and stem the spread of Islamist militancy (Miller & Higham, 2015).
References:
Paul, Christopher, (2008). Information Operations: Doctrine and Practice. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Paul, Christopher, (2011). Strategic Communication. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Greg Miller and Scott Higham (2015). In a propaganda war against ISIS, the U.S. tried to play by the enemy’s rules. The Washington Post.
“Welcome to the ISIS Land” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmdEFvsY0E