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4 - Proximity to the Fighting and the Puncturing of Factual Bias in Iraq

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  aN Invalid Date NaN

Daniel Silverman
Affiliation:
Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania
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Summary

This chapter examines belief in misinformation during the Coalition air war against ISIL in Iraq. In particular, it investigates a unique nationwide survey of contemporary Iraq that measures Iraqis’ factual perceptions about the Coalition airstrikes against ISIL, as well as whether they have lived under ISIL rule where the vast majority of strikes actually occurred. Moreover, this survey is paired with geo-located event data on the Coalition airstrikes themselves obtained from Airwars in order to measure the respondents’ proximity to the events more directly. Overall, the results reveal that Iraqis’ factual misperceptions about Coalition actions are widespread – fueled by both their own preexisting political orientations and streams of information in the dispute – but that civilians with greater personal exposure to the campaign are much less likely to embrace these falsehoods. Indeed, both experience living under ISIL control and proximity to the airstrikes themselves significantly reduce factual misperceptions about the Coalition’s aerial campaign, including false claims about its targeting of Shiʿa Arab-led militias and its strategic benefits to ISIL.

Type
Chapter
Information
Seeing Is Disbelieving
Why People Believe Misinformation in War, and When They Know Better
, pp. 84 - 104
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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