Fighting the War of Ideas like a Real War

by J. Michael Waller

This ground-breaking monograph departs from the conventional view of public diplomacy and international communication in time of war and argues for deploying messages as weapons of attack against the terrorists and other extremists. Proposing an immediate-term strategy that requires no bureaucratic reorganization or major budgetary changes, Fighting the War of Ideas like a Real War is designed for quick implementation in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. The book complements the Defense Science Board's 2004 report on strategic communication, the State Department's evolving public diplomacy strategy, and the joint Army/Marines Counterinsurgency Field Manual FM 3-24 of 2006. The book opens with a new view of using information as a weapon of warfare, followed by chapters on the proper use of words to define the conflicts and parties involved, the use of Arabic and Islamic terminology in ways beneficial to the civilized world, effective branding of the enemy and of the war efforts, a "secre