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Cease Fires
Anytime there was a chance that a cease-fire would freeze the status
quo on the ground, the conflicting sides would launch last-minute offensives to
gain what territory they could before the cease-fire began. 396 Then, they would
manipulate the cease-fire by repositioning and resupplying their forces during
the lull in the action. 397
Clearly, manipulation was used in each of these vignettes, which
represent only a few among hundreds of examples. Exactly what is
manipulation, and how can we discern between it and the other persuasion
concepts, such as perception management, PSYOP, deception, or
disinformation?
Manipulation has traditionally been looked at as a means by which to
accomplish an action. For example, the DOD definition of deception utilizes
manipulation in this manner:
Those measures designed to mislead the enemy by manipulation,
distortion, or falsification of evidence to induce him to react in a
manner prejudicial to his interests. 398
The action verb here is to mislead, and the goal is to induce a reaction. Joint
Publication 1-02 defines perception management and PSYOP in a similar
manner:
perception management–actions to convey and/or deny selected
information and indicators to foreign audiences to influence their
emotions, motives, and objective reasoning; and to intelligence systems
and leaders at all levels to influence official estimates, ultimately
resulting in foreign behaviors and official actions favorable to the
396 Ibid., p. 309.
397 The combatants further adjusted to their new environment and used it to their
advantage. For example, it was reported the combatants exploited the “confrontation
line” that was one drawn on UNPROFOR maps designating the boundary between the
sides. A road crossed the line several times. When a UN vehicle traveled on it—and
thus moved in and out of the combatants’ territories—a mortar crew from one side
would sneak onto the other side’s territory and fire on the UN vehicle making it look as
if the “home” side did the shooting. In another example, there were reports that one side
used a third country and a lot of money to plant stories in the US press to gain
sympathy for its cause. See LTC John Sray’s article “Selling the Bosnian Myth to
America: Buyer Beware” at http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil.
398 Field Manual 33-1, p. 8 of the Glossary at the end of the manual.
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