April 10, 2006
IT'LL BE EVEN MORE EFFECTIVE ONCE WE'RE GONE:
Military Plays Up Role of Zarqawi: Jordanian Painted As Foreign Threat To Iraq's Stability (Thomas E. Ricks, April 10, 2006, Washington Post )
The U.S. military is conducting a propaganda campaign to magnify the role of the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, according to internal military documents and officers familiar with the program. The effort has raised his profile in a way that some military intelligence officials believe may have overstated his importance and helped the Bush administration tie the war to the organization responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.Posted by Orrin Judd at April 10, 2006 7:11 AMThe documents state that the U.S. campaign aims to turn Iraqis against Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian, by playing on their perceived dislike of foreigners. U.S. authorities claim some success with that effort, noting that some tribal Iraqi insurgents have attacked Zarqawi loyalists.
