In April 2003, members of the UK 15 Psychological Operations Group entered the Iraqi city of Basra. A territorial unit made up of part-time disc jockeys, market researchers and advertisers, the group was tasked with launching a 'soft war': encouraging the defection of Iraqi troops and ensuring the cooperation of the civilian population. This soft war, born ostensibly from a concern to avoid physical casualties, was conducted through the old media techniques of pamphleteering and radio broadcasting. It was a campaign pursued through emotional appeals and grounded in psychological expertise: as such it would appear to be a paradigmatic illustration of the idea that the psychological sciences serve as the basis for a subtle and effective form of political domination.
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