US News: Hearts, Minds, and Dollars
According to an article in the 4/25 edition of US News, the White House is preparing a massive public diplomacy and campaign to shape the future of Islam.
From military psychological-operations teams and CIA covert operatives to openly funded media and think tanks, Washington is plowing tens of millions of dollars into a campaign to influence not only Muslim societies but Islam itself. The previously undisclosed effort was identified in the course of a four-month U.S. News investigation, based on more than 100 interviews and a review of a dozen internal reports and memorandums. Although U.S. officials say they are wary of being drawn into a theological battle, many have concluded that America can no longer sit on the sidelines as radicals and moderates fight over the future of a politicized religion with over a billion followers. The result has been an extraordinary--and growing--effort to influence what officials describe as an Islamic reformation.
Posted by Matthew Burton on April 25, 2005 at 09:48 PM in Public diplomacy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (137)
Dorrance Smith calls out Aljazeera
An April 25 column by Dorrance Smith, the CPA's former media advisor, calls out Aljazeera as "in cahoots with terrorists." Many people have questioned Aljazeera's relationship with al Qaeda and implied the outlet has foreknowledge of terrorist attacks. But this is the closest anyone has come to saying the two groups are actively cooperating:
As long as Al-Jazeera continues to practice in cahoots with terrorists while we are at war, should the U.S. government maintain normal relations with Qatar?...As long as Al-Jazeera continues to aid and abet the enemy, as long as we are fighting a war on the ground and in the airwaves, why are we not fighting back against Al-Jazeera and Qatar, the nation that makes possible the network's existence?
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Posted by Matthew Burton on April 25, 2005 at 03:08 AM in Aljazeera | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (168)
Iran shuts down al-Jazeera bureau
Iran shuts down al-Jazeera bureau
April 20, 2005
Associated Press
Iran has suspended the operations of Arab television network al-Jazeera, accusing it of inflaming violent protests by minority Arabs in the nation's southwest.
The Government said two more protesters died in the unrest on Monday, bringing the three-day toll to three dead and at least eight injured in Khuzistan province, on Iran's border with Iraq.
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Posted by Matthew Burton on April 20, 2005 at 03:42 PM in Aljazeera | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (48)
More on interrogations from the Chicago Tribune
"People now realize the terrorists are not all-powerful because they see them on TV being captured," said Udai al-Jubouri, a military engineer whose Dora neighborhood in southern Baghdad is among the most dangerous areas of Iraq. "People believe only what they see. The people in the stores and the tea shops who were encouraging these kinds of attacks now do not support them."
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Posted by Matthew Burton on April 17, 2005 at 11:31 PM in Al-Iraqiya/Iraqi Media Network, Prisoner Confessions | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (115)
Washington Post's take on interrogation broadcasts
Broadcast on al-Iraqiya, the state-run network set up by the U.S. occupation authority in 2003, "Terrorism in the Hands of Justice" has become one of most effective arrows in the government's counterinsurgency propaganda quiver."It has shown the Iraqi people the reality of those insurgents, [that] they are criminals, killers, murderers, thieves," Interior Minister Falah Naqib said last week. More
Posted by Matthew Burton on April 5, 2005 at 03:05 PM in Prisoner Confessions | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (37)
BBC markets Arabic service in Iraq
The BBC has launched a major TV advertising and billboard campaign in Iraq, promoting the availability of the BBC Arabic service programming on seven FM frequencies across the country.
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Posted by Matthew Burton on April 1, 2005 at 08:48 PM in Advertising | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (228)
