bananas & psy-ops & other GR echoes

[Doug Millison]

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0241/urbina.php

"Much of the time on the ground," one private recalled
about a tour of duty in Asia, "is spent driving around
the desert in humvees mounted with nine speakers, each
blasting a thousand watts of noise. Tank treads,
helicopter propellers, huge guns—we broadcast anything
that'll scare the shit out of 'em." When music is
chosen, the playlist tends to be short: Beach Boys,
AC/DC, and Jimi Hendrix's shrill "Star-Spangled
Banner," repeated ad nauseam until the enemy submits
out of sheer annoyance. Other psy-opers parachute in
and then remain stationary, setting up the army's
equivalent of a battlefield Kinko's to churn out
agitprop handbills in the millions. Some operatives
are airborne aboard Commando Solo, an air force cargo
plane converted into a $70 million flying radio and TV
station, beaming news, tunes, and an occasional bit of
disinformation to the enemy. 

"We just deliver the goods," quipped the major who
played host to me. "The guys down South drawing the
cartoons are the ones paid six figures to know that
because bananas are a delicacy in Iraq, they should
get drawn into the picture with an enticing feast
scene."  [...] 

The backflow of misinformation can also be a serious
problem. Though the Pentagon and the CIA are barred by
law from propaganda activities in the United States,
during the mid 1970s increased scrutiny of military
intelligence operations revealed that programs
planting fake leaks in the foreign press had resulted
in false articles running back through the U.S. media.
But sometimes the false articles are intentional. When
the American public seemed to be developing weak knees
about the Nicaraguan contras, the Office of Public
Diplomacy, part of the Reagan-era State Department,
quickly leaked fake intelligence to The Miami Herald
that the Soviet Union had given chemical weapons to
the Sandinistas.  [...]

Sometimes, though, the packages land in the right
place, and the enemy is quite happy about it. During
World War II, the Japanese utilized the standard
tactic of telling American soldiers that their
girlfriends were getting busy while they were away
from home. But on the air-dropped handbills the
Japanese illustrated their point a little too well,
using graphic pornography that was otherwise tough to
come by on the front lines. According to military
historian Stanley Sandler, "Our guys loved it. They'd
trade them like baseball cards . . . five for a bottle
of whiskey." [...] 










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