March 6, 2007:
One of the
counter-terrorism battles you rarely hear about, is the one that tries to
influence media, in Moslem countries to, to go up against Islamic terrorists.
This often involves bribes, which is one reason the program does not seek
publicity. In most poor countries (and some not-so-poor ones), journalists and
their editors can be rented for a suitable fee. This is no secret. Typically, the American infowarrior is not
trying to get Arab (or Pakistani, or Indonesian) media to publish "praise the
United States" items. Too obvious. Much more useful to try and get the media to
say more about the many atrocities Islamic terrorists commit against other
Moslems. This is not easy to do, because local Islamic terrorists will often take
offense, and sometimes respond by killing the offending editor or journalist.
News of Moslems killed by Islamic
terrorists has been a major problem for organizations like al Qaeda and the
Taliban. Officially, the terrorists consider their Moslem victims to either be
"martyrs" (unwilling participants in the jihad against Islams enemies) or "not
true Moslems" (and thus deserving of death for disagreeing with the Islamic
terrorists.) Naturally, Islamic radicals are sensitive to how news of these
dead Moslems is reported. So American bribe money often can only get a mention
of Moslem deaths, from Islamic terrorist acts, and one that still must describe them as "martyrs" or "not true
Moslems." This way, the journalists are
safe, but the local Moslems still get the message (and usually ignore the
terrorist spin.)
Oddly enough, Western media don't like to
cover the "Moslem killing Moslems" angle much either, but for more complex
reasons. Western journalists tend to believe the Moslems aren't as responsible
for the Islamic terrorism, as are the actions of Westerners. Not just colonial
powers of a century ago, but the current presence of U.S. troops in Iraq as
well. Thus, one can express ones anti-American attitudes, by downplaying the
atrocities of the Islamic terrorists. Besides, the Islamic terrorists are much
more likely to kill a journalist they don't like, than are the Americans.
Another story few journalists from
anywhere will touch, is the fact that ignoring these Islamic terror attacks on
Moslem women, children, clerics, hospitals, mosques, etc., is a failing
amounting to an indictment of the moral bankruptcy of contemporary Islamic
leadership
