Declassified Australia exposes and analyses a massive secret propaganda operation being run out of the US, that has been buried by Western media.
by Peter Cronau
by Peter Cronau
Part 8 - The Middle East cluster
The Middle East cluster used its covert assets to focus on issues primarily related to Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. This group ‘chiefly promoted narratives seeking to undermine Iran’s influence in the region’. It did this through a spread of inflammatory allegations and stories designed to influence audiences.
Several fake Twitter accounts ‘posed as Iraqi activists in order to accuse Iran of threatening Iraq’s water security, and flooding the country with crystal meth’. ‘Other assets highlighted Houthi-planted landmines killing civilians, and promoted allegations that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will lead to global food crisis.’
Several fake Twitter accounts ‘posed as Iraqi activists in order to accuse Iran of threatening Iraq’s water security, and flooding the country with crystal meth’. ‘Other assets highlighted Houthi-planted landmines killing civilians, and promoted allegations that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will lead to global food crisis.’
Multiple assets posted similar content, similarly timed, that was clearly being shared and coordinated. Some sloppy operational security by the operators of the Middle East cluster is also on display.
One Twitter page pretending to be of an Iraqi man named ‘Discoverer’ and using a fake AI-generated profile photo, posted predominantly about misdeeds of the Iranian government. However archived versions of the Twitter account show that prior to May 2021, it used a different profile photo, identified as an ‘account belonging to the US Central Command’, and listed its location as ‘Florida, USA’.
Incidentally, Florida is home to the headquarters of the US Central Command or CENTCOM, located at MacDill Airforce Base in Tampa, Florida. Coincidentally, CENTCOM’s Area of Responsibility (AOR) extends across the Middle East, Central Asia, and parts of South Asia, the same patch of the globe as covered by the Information Operations reported here.
One Twitter page pretending to be of an Iraqi man named ‘Discoverer’ and using a fake AI-generated profile photo, posted predominantly about misdeeds of the Iranian government. However archived versions of the Twitter account show that prior to May 2021, it used a different profile photo, identified as an ‘account belonging to the US Central Command’, and listed its location as ‘Florida, USA’.
Incidentally, Florida is home to the headquarters of the US Central Command or CENTCOM, located at MacDill Airforce Base in Tampa, Florida. Coincidentally, CENTCOM’s Area of Responsibility (AOR) extends across the Middle East, Central Asia, and parts of South Asia, the same patch of the globe as covered by the Information Operations reported here.
Notably, CENTACOM states it uses Information Operations (IO) campaigns that ‘include counter-propaganda messaging… in internet and social media’. These IO campaigns serve ‘as a force multiplier in the information space… to counter state-sponsored destabilizing activities across the CENTCOM AOR’.
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