A Dich Van program

Brian Bresnahan: (Registration required.)

During the Vietnam War the North Vietnamese instituted what they called the Dich Van program. This was the psychological warfare/propaganda program intended to rally and maintain support of their populace and the world for their cause, while deteriorating support for our troops and the war here. With no organized opposition from the Pentagon or White House, it is safe to say they successfully implemented the program, both here and in their own country.

Now, during the Global War on Terror, our Pentagon and White House have failed to implement a Dich Van program of our own and have once again failed to counter the enemy's propaganda machine. They have failed to circulate the "good news" that absolutely exists about Iraq necessary to maintain majority support for the war. Although they are on the right track in Iraq and pursuing the enemy, they have failed to motivate and inspire the preponderance of Americans to steadfastly support the war on terror.

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Did you know that as of early February there were 227,000 trained and capable Iraqi Security Force members; a 78% increase over the same time last year? That as of early February Iraqi forces were conducting and leading more combat operations than U.S. forces? That "tips" from Iraqis about insurgent and terrorist activity are at an all time high? That Sunni Arabs are now fighting against Al Qaeda in the Al Anbar province? The Iraqi economy is currently growing at around 16%, the change is visible in the marketplace and what the implications are for stability? In Iraqi cities like Tal Afar, the mayor is begging the same unit to stay and not rotate out because terrorists no longer exploit the citizens? That requests for reenlistment by U.S. forces exceed that which is allowable by law? You probably didn't know most or any of these because our Pentagon has failed to ensure you were informed.

Surely the Pentagon and White House know the mainstream media is not sympathetic to the cause of defending the very freedom which allows them to operate. Why then do they continue to hope beyond hope they will change, as indicated by their not pursuing other means to disseminate the truth? Press releases and news conferences (and resulting transcripts) continue to be fed through mainstream media channels, where for the most part, the good news is filtered out. Under our constitution and free market economy, the press is free to operate as they choose. So the fault lies with the Pentagon and Administration for failing to ensure the whole story is disseminated.

All of the facts listed above could have easily been fed to the public through various other channels. Every newspaper belongs to a state press association with a published web or mailing address. Why not make a database of contact info and feed the news directly to them, bypassing the major press organizations which filter and feed them the stories?

Why hasn't the Pentagon started a process of feeding video news clips directly to all local news channels via the internet, rather than depending upon the major broadcast corporations to air them?

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There is much more. I have found that local papers provide more reliable information about the war than much of the mainstream media. The local papers tend to talk directly to the troops and by pass the left wing filter.

The US did try to undermine North Vietnam with propaganda that proved very ineffective. The SOG unit in charge of psywar created the Sacred Sword of the Patriots League which was suppose to be a North Vietnamese insurgent operation. It issued releases and other propaganda against the communist governement. There is much more about this program in Richard H. Schultz, Jr.'s The Secret War Against Hanoi. It is a very interesting book.