Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Marketing Hearts and Minds

Adam: In a small office tucked behind 12-foot concrete blast walls at Camp Victory, Army Major Jerry Wilson points to map of Iraq.

He says Anbar Province, in western Iraq, has been a remarkable PsyOp success story?ever since the ?Anbar Awakening? when the regions sheiks rejected Al Qaeda and supported peace.

He says the job of "selling peace" is really a lot like marketing any other product.

Wilson3 :25
I use the example of Coca-Cola and Pepsi, there?s people who drink Coke and people who drink Pepsi and you have to ask the question, why? The product, the quality of the product, the quality of the product, the advertisement, the message, the theme, the jingle?all the things that go along with that. The same thing applies to psyop except we go after a specific group of people in order to intercept the possibility of them becoming part of the problem vs. part of the solution.

Adam: PsyOp teams operate in tandem with other military units by spreading information, providing services and build trust.

After close to five years of war, building that kind of relationship is a difficult process.

(sound up and under)

Specialist Tyson Demerest from Leavenworth, Kansas is part of a three-man PsyOp team driving a humvee into the town of Ramadi, in central Anbar.

Demerest-Humvee2 :25
Well Ramadi is mostly Sunni populated its got about 800,000 people. A lot of the Sunni Arabs here, they were supported by Saddam Hussein and his regime, so a lot of what we have to do is work them back into a more democratic society where they have a say and they?re not just favored all the time.

Adam: Once they get to their destination, the team speaks through an interpreter and engages people on a variety of topics from electricity to security to fuel vouchers?PsyOppers call this ?face-time?.

( sound up and under)

Demerest says a problem often comes up that the Iraqis expect the Americans to handle every aspect of their welfare?this man for instance, has been waiting to join the Iraqi police.

Confab2 :27
Spc. Demerest: Unfortunately for him, the Iraqi Police is run by Iraqis it is not an American association, it is not a part of our government
Translator: They told them that is the responsibility of the Americans and I told them this is not right.
Demerest: No it is not true.

Adam: Staff Sergeant Eric Beckman is from Lafayette, Missouri. He?s been doing PsyOp since he joined the army at age 17.

Beckman1 :19
In the civilian world actually if you?re going to try to transfer over army psychological operations training its usually for a marketing degree. Really all we?re doing is selling ideas and thoughts and way of life to try and follow.

Adam: But what happens if the people you are marketing to just don?t believe in your product?

Sheik Raad Sabah Alwani is one of the influential Sunni Sheiks responsible for the Anbar awakening.

Raad1 :34
Adam: what does he think needs to happen for Iraq to have a strong central government that can manage the whole country?
Translator followed by Sheik Raad: Arabic, Arabic
Translator: He said, a powerful government without Democracy.
Adam: He doesn?t think Iraq is ready for Democracy?
Translator: That?s right, he has not faith about the Democracy, he says it?s not good for the Iraqi people.

Adam: Alwani says Iraqi Prime minister Nouri Al Maliki is in the pocket of Iran and Syria.

He doesn?t have faith that the government would last if the Americans leave.

The Army maintains however that, the process of Democratizing Iraq has been a success ?it just takes time.

I?m Adam Allington reporting from Ramadi, Iraq.