The prospect of a television war with graphic shots of civilian and battlefield casualties had little effect on American policymakers during the Persian Gulf crisis, two U.S. officials say.
But the officials, speaking at a seminar Thursday on TV's influence on gulf war decisionmaking, said dramatic shots of Kurdish refugees in the weeks after the war did prompt a more forceful response by the administration."Television did add to the pressure on decision-makers," said Richard N. Haass, senior director for Near East and South Asian Affairs in the National Security Council. "But it did not affect the bulk of the key policy decisions."
Haass told the seminar organized by Northwestern University's Annenberg Washington Program that TV had more effect on how policies were implemented. For example, he said, the coalition forces had to take "extraordinary care to avoid collateral damage" - civilian casualties - because Iraqi President Saddam Hussein could manipulate TV coverage of such incidents.
Paul D. Wolfowitz, undersecretary of defense for policy, said the bombing of a Baghdad bunker that Iraq said killed hundreds of civilians "probably did lead us to be more careful," although the extensive TV coverage of the bombing wasn't necessarily a determining element in Pentagon policy.
Wolfowitz said concern over how television would cover the war "was not ever a factor" in discussions on how to expel Iraq from Kuwait.
On the positive side, he said, TV tended to buoy public support and vivid shots of Patriot missiles intercepting Iraq's Scuds may have affected Israel's decision to stay out of the conflict. Saddam's treatment of hostages before TV cameras also helped turn the world against him.
But Wolfowitz said one "distinct failure" was the inability to use the medium of television to convince Saddam that the United States was serious about using force to drive him from Kuwait.
Haass noted that the ability of policymakers to come up with nuanced positions was impaired by the "televised game of diplomatic ping-pong" where there is pressure "to get out there very soon with something that is black and white."
TV had its greatest impact, he said, with its dramatic shots of tens of thousands of Kurds fleeing the Iraqi army after a failed uprising, pushing the administration toward its decision to set up a coalition security zone for the Kurds in northern Iraq.