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SUSPICIOUS INCIDENTS
126: Steve Dorril on disinformation in the ‘war on terrorism’
AFGHANISTAN: ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVES
Although in the wake of the ‘defeat’ of the Taliban US attention has moved from a possible strike on Iraq to sponsoring covert operations in Somalia, we should not be surprised if at some stage in the near future, an ‘incident’ hits the headlines which promotes Saddam Hussein to the top of a ‘hit list’.If the history of the media teaches us anything it is that the ‘war on terrorism’ is a ripe opportunity for disinformation and the creation of provocative incidents which the press reports with casual disregard for truth.
In the aftermath of the disastrous Bay of Pigs operation, in 1962 the US Joint Chiefs of staff put forward an illegal and secret plan, Operation Northwoods, which proposed the creation of terrorist ‘co-ordinated incidents’ which would provide the excuse for another invasion of Cuba (see James Bamford, Body of Secrets, 2001). The most famous of these ‘incidents’ was the second Tonkin Gulf episode of 1964 which led to the massive escalation of the war in Vietnam (see Peter Dale Scott, The War Conspiracy: The Secret Road to the Second Indochina War, 1972). In the weeks after September 11, old-style Cold war ‘hawks’ in the US administration aligned to the Deputy Defence Secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, desperately sought a pretext to launch the next stage of the anti-terrorist war against an old enemy - Iraq. They very nearly succeeded.
Within days of the attack on New York, it was reported that one of the pilots who flew a highjacked plane into the World Trade Centre, Mohammed Atta, had met previously with a low-ranking Iraqi ‘diplomat’ in Prague. It was obvious to anyone who has studied disinformation techniques that this was an intriguing story that was destined to flourish.
Gradually, the story developed as the rank of the diplomat was inflated until he, inevitably, was revealed to be a senior intelligence officer. Finally in the Observer, David Rose, who really should have known better, informed us that Mohammed Khalil Ibrahim al-Ani, was a special operations officer. Added to this - in a classic example of a psychological warfare technique known as ‘surfacing’ - were stories originating in the German newspaper Bild that al-Ani had handed over to Atta a vacuum flask containing anthrax. The link between the events in the US and the ‘hidden hand’ of Iraq were starting to harden, much to the satisfaction of Wolfowitz and his allies in the CIA.
However when the various stories were traced back to their original source, it soon became apparent that they relied on the dubious briefings of members of the exile Iraq national Congress (INC), a body almost totally reliant on the CIA for its funds. Not only were they the source for much of the information, the INC, in various guises, was also the confirming agency. This was an example of the intelligence operation known as ‘the loop’, whereby all the sources have a single disguised origin - a technique much used by the disinformation ‘paper mills’ of exile groups.
The story rumbled on with the release in the New York Times (2 December, 2001), and duly reported in the Observer and Telegraph, of a secret US plan to launch war on Iraq. It was not until 18 December that the story finally collapsed. Strangely, it was the Telegraph - the most hawkish of pro-American newspapers - which reported that the Czech police admitted that they had no evidence that Atta had met an Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague. It seems that the story of the alleged meeting, which was a convenient case of mistaken identity, had originated with an unidentified ‘informer’ - presumably Iraqi - and not Czech intelligence.
Three days later Foreign Secretary Jack Straw admitted that there was no link between Iraq and the events of 11 September. There was no Iraqi ‘smoking gun’. But it had been a close run thing. We should be aware that during this long-running ‘war on terrorism’ similar incidents will be manufactured and may not be disentangled so easily or as quickly.
Stephen Dorril is the author of MI6: Fifty Years of Special Operations (Fourth Estate)
Last modified: Monday, February 18, 2002
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Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
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A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
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Previous stories
War Reporting
NATIONAL ANTI-WAR ANTI-SANCTIONS CONFERENCE: RESIST!
SEPTEMBER 11 RELATIVES SPEAK IN LONDON
Alice Mahon MP with Peter Gowan, New Left Review.
Emergency security measures in USA curb basic freedoms
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28 November: Open meeting - Coverage of the (War) Crisis
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Free Press special issue - War in Afghanistan
1 November - NUJ meeting
4th November - Caryl Churchill's 'Far Away', plus Kika Markham reading from Tony Kushner's 'Homebody/Kabul'.
October 23 - MWAW rally at the BBC
How Carter and Brzezinski helped start the Afghan mess
ARROW calls for anti-war vigils on 11 November
US TV networks fall in line and salute
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