Page 401 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

0 | Pres dent al Stagecraft and M l ta nment

magazine asserted, on April 14, 2003, that Hollywood could not have dreamed
up a more singular tale.
Doubts about the story’s authenticity were first raised by the London Times
on April 16, 2003. After a thorough investigation, the BBC concluded that Lynch’s
rescue was a staged operation. No embedded journalist accompanied the raid,
and the green night footage was shot and cleverly edited by the military’s own
Combat Camera as proof that a battle to free Lynch had occurred when it had
not. On May 18, 2003, the BBC pointed out the fictional aspects of the raid, and
observed that the Pentagon had been influenced by Hollywood producers of
reality television and action movies, most notably Jerry Bruckheimer.
U.S. news headlines embellished the story, saying that Jessica had fought for
her life, and had sustained multiple gunshot wounds. Some added that Jessica
was stabbed by Iraqi forces, and even raped. Months later, it was reported
that, in fact, no fighting had occurred, but rather Lynch suffered only accident
injuries when her vehicle overturned. A medical checkup by U.S. doctors con-
firmed that Iraqi doctors had tended her injuries, a broken arm and leg and a
dislocated ankle.
The incident demonstrates the use of militainment. The rescue of Jessica
was a classic rescue narrative of mythic proportions told at a difficult time in
the fighting to boost American morale and public support for the war. After
the Lynch story, the downed statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad’s Firdos
Square would become the icon of victory over Iraq. Only later would an in-
ternal Army study find that the statue toppling was a psychological operations
maneuver—another staged event.

war gamEs

America’s Army was the first video game created by the military and was of-
fered free to kids to download off the Internet on July 4, 2002. It became the
number-one online action game in the country with more than 3 million reg-
istered players. Players are positioned as first-person shooters, and after basic
training, the advanced “marksmanship” is so realistic that the computer screen
moves in time to the digital soldier’s breathing under fire. The online actors are
patterned after the actions of real soldiers. Though the weapons, graphics, and
settings are highly realistic, the violent consequences of killing are downplayed.
The enemy is faceless and masked, and when hit releases a puff of red smoke
and falls to the ground. As CNN reported, “From a propaganda perspective the
Army has seemingly hit the jackpot. (And the Army readily admits the games
are a propaganda device)” (CNN/money.com, June 3, 2002).
When video games depict violent combat but downplay the graphic images
of death or other horrific aspects of war, they offer a sanitized version of fantasy
combat, even while depicting actual battles. The visual styles and compelling
participation offered to gamers turn the otherwise disturbing aspects of war and
killing into excitement and entertainment. The recognizable imagery of video
war games has become popular as a graphic style in many feature films depict-
ing combat. Computer-based imaging is also seen in news coverage of war,