Analysis On Strategy Of US Government's Control Over Public Opinion In The Iraq War

War is the extension of politics as well as the highest presentation of a nation's will for survival. It is not only a material competition of military and national integral power between the two sides of the war, but also the spiritual struggle of civil inclinations and morale Public opinion is a reflection of the people's common psychological preference, containing strong spiritual power. The history of human wars tells us that public opinion has a direct connection with the victory of a war. Thus it becomes a hot issue for governments at wartime that how to win, induct and make use of public opinion.Modern mass media has a profound and wide influence on the public. Public opinion is the beginning of public opinion on media and also the outcome of induction for journalistic public opinion. Although mass media is called "the forth power" in nations with democratic policies, under the guardianship of national interests the controls over public opinion have got legal excuses, such as gaining new victory for anti-terrorism war, inspiring military morale, destroy the enemy's will for war and so on. And with the usage of communication techniques, the controls over public opinion become more covert and more strategic, as it makes use of the power of public morality to inhibit behaviors that counter the nation. In essence, mass media is the appendixes of the nation in the war time.The Iraq War is a military war with high technologies, also a psychological and informational war under the control of public opinion. With the abstruse understanding of the essence of the power of public opinion and the War-Effect-Produce mechanics, the US never stopped studies on the strategy of public opinion on the media. They collect communicational experts, sociologists, and military experts to establish the exclusive institutions according to the national strategic objects, and to conspire for casting off the trouble from public opinion and using public opinion to trouble other countries. They try all they can to get control over public opinion and find new ways of controlling for the best effects. In the Iraq War, they made full use of communication techniques and get full rewards of informational strategy, presenting skillful conspiracies, making the war of pubic opinion rather complicated and colorful.This article takes the Iraq War as an example, tentatively analyzes the relationship between the communication of public opinion and mass media, between government and mass media, and understands the characteristics and the models of communication in wars, looks back the history of the US controls over public opinion at war time, apprehends the backgrounds, characteristics, and measures of US controls over public opinion in the Iraq War, uncovers the strategies and techniques of them, and evaluates the effects of them with the help of knowledge and theories from sociology in media and journalism, journalism, communication and public opinion.