The Americans are not within 100 miles of Baghdad!

I am sure many of you remember that classic line from the Iraqi Minister of Information during the Baghdad phase of the Iraq war. I sure do. I noticed this post over at the Adventures of Chester, and couldn't help but laugh.

When Marine and Army forces made it to Baghdad and entered the city, no report of this was made on the BBS radio news. But we could see it happen. We could see where individual Army and Marine humvees were inside Baghdad, overlaid on imagery of the city.

Later, the BBC quoted Iraqi news organs as saying that the presence of US forces inside Baghdad was a fiction, and propaganda by the US government. Still, we could see our own vehicles all over Baghdad -- we could even pinpoint a specific vehicle and ask the system which unit each was attached to. We were 60 miles or so away and could see the infiltration of American units throughout the city.

The effect this will have can't be over-stated. US troops now have access to information that helps nullify enemy propoganda effects, besides giving them a better sense of the battlefield situation. If you say you are beating the Americans now, you had better be beating them, because they will know when you are lying. This also goes the other way, as US troops can't be lied to by their superiors as easily as before, something that has never been as much a problem in Western nations as it has in Eastern nations. Uncertainty is worse for morale than the truth, no matter how grim it may be. Even when losing, our troops will have an idea just how badly, and sometimes that may be enough. Either way, its another tool at our disposal, another hurdle for America's enemies to jump.