Tsahal et les relations publiques

Après quelques semaines d’opérations militaires incertaines, la campagne militaire de Tsahal au Liban est désormais l’objet de diverses spéculations. Certains auteurs et certaines “révélations” tendent à apprécier l’étonnante lenteur de Tsahal, ou certaines de ses faiblesses opérationnelles, comme des tactiques délibérées. Il faut considérer ces diverses appréciations à la fois d’un esprit ouvert et avec un œil critique (ce n’est pas des plus simples). Elles peuvent aussi bien faire partie du constat d’une complication très réelle du conflit que d’une campagne de désinformation, — la première explication pouvant d’ailleurs englober la seconde…

Une affirmation de cette sorte vient du journaliste Thomas Ricks, du Washington Post, un reporter de bonne réputation. Ci-dessous, l’extrait de son intervention lors de l’émission de CNN “Reliable Sources”, le 6 août. Ricks affirme que Tsahal laisse intentionnellement actifs certains postes de tir du Hezbollah pour que les pertes essuyées par Israël puissent “médiatiquement” (moralement ?) justifier la poursuite des pertes civiles infligées aux Libanais.

(…)

HOWARD KURTZ: (…) And joining us now […] Thomas Ricks, Pentagon reporter for “The Washington Post” and author of the new book “Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq.”

Tom Ricks, you've covered a number of military conflicts, including Iraq, as I just mentioned. Is civilian casualties increasingly going to be a major media issue? In conflicts where you don't have two standing armies shooting at each other?

THOMAS RICKS: I think it will be. But I think civilian casualties are also part of the battlefield play for both sides here. One of the things that is going on, according to some U.S. military analysts, is that Israel purposely has left pockets of Hezbollah rockets in Lebanon, because as long as they're being rocketed, they can continue to have a sort of moral equivalency in their operations in Lebanon.

KURTZ: Hold on, you're suggesting that Israel has deliberately allowed Hezbollah to retain some of it's fire power, essentially for PR purposes, because having Israeli civilians killed helps them in the public relations war here?

RICKS: Yes, that's what military analysts have told me.

KURTZ: That's an extraordinary testament to the notion that having people on your own side killed actually works to your benefit in that nobody wants to see your own citizens killed but it works to your benefit in terms of the battle of perceptions here.

RICKS: Exactly. It helps you with the moral high ground problem, because you know your operations in Lebanon are going to be killing civilians as well.

Mis en ligne le 8 août 2006 à 15H38