Concentrating against weakness--enemy attacks on the media
The Belmont Club has a long post on the enemy's attempt to shut down local newspapers in Iraq. However his war with his allies in the US media is also ongoing. Even though the US media seems to want him to win, this has not stopped his attacks and intimidation against US media in Iraq, as the Jill Carroll kidnapping demonstrates.
As I have pointed out several times, the US needs to be more engaged in the media battlespace, where the enemy thinks 80 percent of the war is taking place.
The most important thing it could do in this regard is find a way to get the media embedded with units rather than hiding behind the curtains of their hotel rooms. As Michael Ledeen points out below, an embed reporter could have shut down the mosque massacre story before it got started. Instead reporters and their stringers were taken in by Sadr "embeds" in the Ministry of Defense. It took several days for the facts to catch up with the Sadr fantasy battle. The US has got to get inside the news cycle in the same way it gets inside the enemy's decision cycle or OODA Loop.
Wretchard indicates the enemy strategy involving the local papers may be designed to prevent wanted posters on their people from being published. This suggest the tip lines that coalition forces have been talking about are more effective than US media gives them credit for.
As I have pointed out several times, the US needs to be more engaged in the media battlespace, where the enemy thinks 80 percent of the war is taking place.
The most important thing it could do in this regard is find a way to get the media embedded with units rather than hiding behind the curtains of their hotel rooms. As Michael Ledeen points out below, an embed reporter could have shut down the mosque massacre story before it got started. Instead reporters and their stringers were taken in by Sadr "embeds" in the Ministry of Defense. It took several days for the facts to catch up with the Sadr fantasy battle. The US has got to get inside the news cycle in the same way it gets inside the enemy's decision cycle or OODA Loop.
Wretchard indicates the enemy strategy involving the local papers may be designed to prevent wanted posters on their people from being published. This suggest the tip lines that coalition forces have been talking about are more effective than US media gives them credit for.
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