Feeding the Zarqawi myth - The US military psyops campaign

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2006/June/focusoniraq_June52.xml§ion=focusoniraq0

US forces also sometimes found it convenient to feed the Zarqawi myth. Most experts believe his foreign fighters make up only a fraction of the insurgency, but the US military portrayed Zarqawi as its most dangerous foe in Iraq. The $25 million price put on his head matched the bounty on bin Laden.

The Washington Post reported this year that internal military documents showed the US military mounted a psyops (psychological operations) campaign to magnify the role of Zarqawi in the insurgency.

“Our own focus on Zarqawi has enlarged his caricature, if you will, made him more important than he really is,” military intelligence officer Colonel Derek Harvey was quoted as saying.

As a foreign militant whose attacks killed far more Iraqi civilians than foreign troops, Zarqawi was despised even by many Iraqi insurgents fighting US forces, and at times the hatred spiralled into fierce battles between insurgent groups.

However, while the US military focused on Zarqawi’s role in an effort to turn Iraqis against the insurgency, it also tried to puncture the legend of a fearless guerrilla leader. snip

He was long said to have an artificial leg, fitted in Baghdad during Saddam Hussein’s rule -- a claim some US officials used to bolster their case that the Iraqi president was conspiring with Al Qaeda. The tale about the leg -- like so many of the myths around Zarqawi -- turned out to be false.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2006/June/focusoniraq_June52.xml§ion=focusoniraq

“Our own focus on Zarqawi has enlarged his caricature, if you will, made him more important than he really is,” (US) military intelligence officer Colonel Derek Harvey was quoted as saying.

Kind of sums it all up, as Mr. Natural was fond of saying, It don't mean sheeit.