Iran Follows in Saddam’s Footsteps
The fakery went deeper than just photo shopping; it was a well-choreographed disinformation event, full propaganda theater, meant to fuel the western press’ propensity for exaggeration. It was a brilliant double fake, to make U.S. martial options seem futile when facing the strength of Iranian arms on one hand, and barring that, to make Iran’s capabilities appear less than they in fact are, a clever win-win in the information war should the first fail. The essence of information warfare is to make the enemy think that what is there is not or what is not there is.
The million-mind reach of the web is a powerful tool. Experts can be leveraged in moments, proof provided, and lies exposed in hours if not minutes. Former intelligence analysts can see a photo, determine its veracity and share their expertise. So it was with the infamous new missiles that Iran blustered could hit Israel. They were not missiles at all; they were simple 1960s era artillery rockets.
The original photo seen in newspapers worldwide showed four purported missiles being fired, some had as many as seven. In reality, only a few old rockets were launched, some failed to ignite on the launch rail, and that embarrassment was photo shopped over. Picture 1 shows the rocket launcher used during an Iranian military parade, the rocket mounted on it is shorter than those launched are. Picture 2 shows it in the field during the firing event; you can clearly see the launcher and rocket that failed to fire. Picture 3 shows various paint schemes on the launchers.
The weapon appears to be a shorter functional copy of the Soviet FROG 7, with a probable range of dozens of miles not hundreds or thousands. These weapons are unguided, and are aimed using the angle of the launch rail, and the azimuth of the vehicle. They are considered artillery and are useful only if many are fired at once, as their accuracy is abysmal, with circular error probabilities measured in thousands of feet.
The Iranians have been posturing and threatening like any schoolyard bully, and like all regional despots in the Middle East, they want to appear as strong as possible. Saddam inflated his strength as a matter of policy; he worked diligently to acquire nuclear weapons and hoped to deter interference with that effort by bluffing the West. Iran is doing the same thing, claiming it has large numbers of sophisticated weapons with impressive new capabilities. To fool us, they saved money by emptying the arms locker of the old stuff. It is certain they have SCUD class missiles and that North Korea is aiding in developing long-range versions of that missile. For now, Iran’s missiles are a regional terror threat, as they do not have them in sufficient numbers to be militarily significant. Nor do they have nuclear warheads for those missiles, for if they ever succeed in making warheads small enough to mate to their missiles everything would change. You can be sure they are working toward that end. Iran took a reasonable bet that no one would notice their ruse, or that ideologues in the main press venues would carefully ignore it. They likely would have, were it not for the alternative media. The fake missiles now serve to make Iran look comical, a posturing fake, a braggart like Saddam. The left will go into full spin in very short order. They will claim Iran was pushed into this by the Iraq war. They will claim they can be deterred by diplomacy. They will insist that this means further action is not required. As always, our enemies will continue to plot and build while we dither, slowly putting together the weapons that can fulfill their genocidal ideology. Someday, they will succeed. |
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| Lance Fairchok is a Featured Writer for The New Media Journal. He is a retired Air Force Intelligence professional with many years of service in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. His travels left him fascinated by the wide differences in human cultural perceptions and how ideas spread in diverse populations. He writes and does research on a variety of subjects to include totalitarian ideologies, radical Islam and press accuracy. He currently teaches and writes on the Emerald Coast of Florida. |
