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This page was edited to fix broken links on 10/29/06. Even though a mountain of evidence suggests that the Bush administration relied on an enormous propaganda campaign in order to drive the United States to war with Iraq, amazingly, not everyone seems to have caught on. According to an April 13 news bulletin from the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), 40 percent of Americans still believe that, prior to the March 2003 invasion, Iraq had either a major WMD program or actual WMD. PIPA also reported that 49 percent of Americans believe “Iraq was directly involved in carrying out the September 11th attacks” (14 percent) or that “Iraq gave substantial support to al-Qaeda, but was not involved in the September 11th attacks” (35 percent); 62 percent believe one or both assumptions is true. That’s quite a few people still enchanted by moldy hype. Even more disconcerting, however, are soldiers’ perceptions of the reasons for invasion. According to a Zogby poll conducted in February, 85 percent of the American troops stationed in Iraq said the U.S. mission there is mainly “to retaliate for Saddam’s role in the 9-11 attacks.” More than three-fourths of the troops said they also believe the main or a major reason for the war was “to stop Saddam from protecting al-Qaeda in Iraq.” These revelations are especially striking given that the 9/11 Commission and several members of the Bush administration have publicly discredited or abandoned such claims. The disconnect between the results of the PIPA and Zogby polls should raise serious questions about how the American empire treats its soldiers. Are these men and women viewed merely as tools, to be lied to or exploited in order to make sure they get the job done? In other words, do U.S. troops know enough to die for their country? The disinformation fed to troops is one of several issues raised in a counter-recruitment pamphlet released in March by the Church of High Resolution (CHR), a Corpus Christi-based media collective. (Editor's note: The Church of High Resolution has seen been renamed to CHR Media Collective. - 10/29/06) Although the CHR pamphlet does not include discussion of the Zogby and PIPA studies, it does spell out the dilemmas that many recruiters and students face now that the Pentagon feels an acute need for new recruits, as well as describes some of the myths recruiters push in order to seduce our nation’s youth into joining the armed forces. It concludes with a discussion of some of the reasons people decide to list and provides advice to those who already have enlisted. In April Cheryl Hebert, a senior at Ray High School, and four other students helped distribute copies of the pamphlet at their school. According to the school’s 2004-2005 Texas Education Agency data, Ray is about three-fourths Hispanic, half of its students are economically disadvantaged, and its student body scores well below the state averages on standardized math and science tests. Because college and advanced job opportunities are bleak for much of the student body, students at Ray and other minority-laden schools are prime targets for recruitment efforts, often on the assumption that they’re not as useful or socially valuable as their wealthier, typically white, counterparts are. “That's the sickening part,” said Hebert. “My school doesn't exactly come through for these students. They don't give many options, but at the same time, they don't really come out and announce when recruiters are on campus. There’s always some student talking to a recruiter when they're around, though. When they've got their little table and video set up in the hall, they stop tons of kids.” When asked whether she met any resistance from administrators or teachers for distributing the pamphlets, Hebert said: “I didn’t get hassled, exactly, but there were a few students that told me directly that they were already enlisted.” According to Hebert, at least three male students she talked to had already been recruited. On the whole, said Hebert, many students were indifferent to the war in Iraq, and several pamphlets ended up on hallway floors. Nevertheless, she noted, “People who weren’t (enlisted) were really open to listening and talking with me.” Hebert also observed that several students were aware of the propaganda efforts directed at them, hopefully a sign that recruiters’ efforts are beginning to wear thin. Currently, the Pentagon spends about 4 billion dollars a year on recruitment efforts, pouring millions into market research, website development, the maintenance of an enormous and illegal database, and flashy MTV-style advertising campaigns. Many of these advertisements air late at night on television programs directed at youths and young adults, such as Cartoon Network’s “Adult Swim” block. Channel One News, which many students are forced to watch during their homeroom class, also airs military advertisements directed at black and Hispanic students. Federal law provides an enormous boon to recruiters as well. Due to a little-known provision in the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind Act, high schools are required by law to not only open their doors to recruiters, but also provide them with students’ phone numbers and addresses. Schools that refuse to do so risk losing federal funding, and even though schools are required to notify parents about the law and provide them with an opportunity to refuse to release their children’s information, many parents remain either confused or uninformed. Most parents and students in South Texas have never even heard of the provision. When asked whether she had any advice for students interested in counter-recruitment, Hebert replied: “My advice is to just fucking do it and don’t get permission from anybody to do it. Do it and get in trouble for it, because they’re never going to let you.” As the occupation of Iraq drags on and the Bush regime gears up for a confrontation with Iran, militant counter-recruitment efforts will become increasingly necessary to help foster a sea change in the way that students, families, and communities perceive the war. The activities at Ray are one of several small steps in the right direction, but we still have a long way to go. Read the CHR pamphlet online at:
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