Pro-Iraqi Media Tell Stories of U.S. Soldiers’ Decadence

The pro-Iraqi media contends that American soldiers sent to Saudi Arabia are afflicted with all the manifestations of U.S. decadence, including AIDS, alcohol, drugs and a yearning for prostitutes.

The Iraqi people also are being told that Israel, far from being a peripheral player in the Persian Gulf crisis, has sent planes, tanks and soldiers to Saudi Arabia, all elaborately disguised as being part of the U.S. arsenal.

A U.S. Information Agency analysis of the pro-Saddam Hussein media in Iraq and elsewhere says there has been an “extremely active” disinformation campaign waged against the United States and U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia since Iraq invaded Kuwait.

“Although many Iraqi disinformation claims are crude and patently false, past experience with disinformation campaigns indicates that even the most outrageous claims can be widely believed,” it said.

Some examples of claims found in the Iraqi media or other sympathetic news outlets:

- The Pentagon has arranged to send two groups of 5,000 Egyptian women each to provide for the “sexual satisfaction” of American servicemen in Saudi Arabia.

- U.S. troops, 40% of whom are suffering from AIDS, are occupying and defiling Muslim holy places in Saudi Arabia.

- Some military planes in Saudi Arabia are actually Israeli planes disguised as U.S. aircraft. The Israeli pilots have been provided with U.S. identity cards.

- Saudis resent the U.S. military presence in their country and have sabotaged U.S. military equipment. In response, U.S. forces have killed some Saudis.

- U.S. forces are dumping nuclear waste in the Saudi desert.