Vol. 56, Issue 1 - Howard University School of Law

Cognitive Foreign Policyphasized false prewar allegations about security threats, providedanonymous pro-war discourse via the Pentagon’s military analyst program,dominated the media with the embedded journalist programand agenda setting, used anonymous advertising through Video NewsReleases, employed government sub-agencies to hone diplomaticstatements, and provided pro-occupation portrayals inside the Iraqimedia. 29 Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Professor Linda Bilmesdocumented startling invasion and occupation expenditure and derivativecosts in The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the IraqConflict (2008). 30 Bush departed with the lowest presidential approvalrating in history at 22%, due to the Iraq War and poor domesticeconomic conditions. 31 To understand how the marketing programwas successful amid such high cost, the Article employs a systematicmethodology of shaping perceptions in public relations.C. SystematizationProfessor Stuart wrote that pseudocommunication, akin to propaganda,is “the deliberate manipulation of language under the guise oflegal precision to persuade an audience that a gross error in judgmentis perfectly acceptable, where all notions of honesty are stripped fromthe legal purpose by manipulating the tools of the language.” 32 Elementstypical of pseudocommunication include:(1) The sender maintains control and determines the meaningof the message and limits the effectiveness of feedback.(2) . . . [T]he sender’s stated purposes are often deliberatelyhidden, unclear, and not empirically verifiable.(3) The sender’s control of the analysis as well as the flow ofinformation encourages collective and non-critical thinking by thereceiver.ments in Run-up to War, CNN (Jan. 24, 2008), http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/23/bush.iraq/.29. See generally Bejesky, PDP, supra note 4.30. See generally JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ & LINDA BILMES, THE THREE TRILLION DOLLARWAR: THE TRUE COST OF THE IRAQ CONFLICT 7 (2008) (exploring in depth the costs associatedwith the Iraq War).31. Bush’s Final Approval Rating: 22 Percent, CBS NEWS (Jan. 16, 2009), http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/16/opinion/polls/main4728399_page2.shtml?tag+contentMain;contentBody.32. Susan Stuart, Shibboleths and Ceballos: Eroding Constitutional Rights ThroughPseudocommunication, 2008 BYU L. REV. 1545, 1548 (“[P]seudocommunication is the techniqueof selling a product no one wants, not through persuasive lawyering but through MadisonAvenue shilling.”).2012] 7