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that produced a daily intelligence document reporting on street rumors in
Baghdad. His insights on the cultural foundation of Iraqi society and their
relation to IO are of acute interest and importance.
Putnam believes animosity still runs high among Iraqis because the US
is ineffective at disseminating its message to the Iraqi people. Most
importantly, this is because the US military is determined “to make the Iraqi
information environment conform to its information operations and public
affairs doctrine on how things should be done, rather than vice versa.” 515 It is
clearly one of the most important observations regarding how we are
conducting the war for hearts and minds.
Putnam believes there are two problems. The first problem is that the
US is using Arab media outlets as its middlemen, and they often have their own
agendas. Thus, the coalition message isn’t getting out. Second, he believes that
the coalition has “failed to grasp how Iraqis receive their information and
formulate their opinions.” 516 As a result Iraqis trust us less and are more
susceptible to anti-coalition propaganda. It is this latter point that appears to be
the most important because it strikes at the heart of cultural awareness.
Putnam believes that the populace obtains information from satellite
TV, family and friends, the streets, religious figures, and newspapers. Once this
“circle of influence” disseminates information, family and friends discuss it.
They in turn process the information. Attitudes are developed from these
discussions. These discussions are then shared with others, and the information
spreads on the street.
A question put to Putnam was why the US didn’t have a local TV
network put out an unprejudiced viewpoint on what was occurring. When
presented this question, a local TV network representative told Putnam that the
network could not appear too neutral because it would lose viewers to al
Jazeera’s “stranglehold on the Arab populace.” 517 The insurgents understand the
“circle of influence” according to Putnam and know how to shape the opinions
of the Iraqi people. They place rumors in a trusted medium where Iraqis will
accept them as true. Insurgents also dominate the information environment by
spreading fear amongst the populace. People are afraid to say anything positive
about the coalition, and thus the anti-coalition rumors become uncontested
515 Bill Putnam, “Winning Iraqi Hearts and Minds,” Army, January 2005, p. 7.
516 Ibid.
517 Ibid.
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