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 Countering
'The Ayman al-Zawahiri Show'
The war on the propaganda front is lousy…
[by Mac Johnson] 3/7/06
Like
that really dumb guy at work who finally laughs at a joke about
five minutes after everybody else has gone home for the day,
Ayman al-Zawahiri -- described variously as “al Qaeda’s
No. 2 man” or “Osama’s right-hand man” --
finally released a tape this week deploring the Danish cartoons
of the prophet Muhammad. Way to stay with the 24-hour news
cycle, Ayman!
I guess the
Cave News Network has its technical limitations. First, they
have to copy the Betamax to VHS, then there’s a three
day camel ride involved just to get to the nearest al-Mailboxes
Etc. and send the tape off to Al-Jazeera.
I can’t
believe we’re losing the propaganda war to these guys… Ha
Ha Ha Ha Ha! Oh sorry, I just got my opening joke.
Contributor
Mac
Johnson
Mac
Johnson is a freelance writer and biologist in Cambridge,
Mass. Mr. Johnson holds a Doctorate in Molecular and
Cellular Biology from Baylor College of Medicine. He
is a frequent opinion contributor to Human
Events Online. His website can be found at macjohnson.com [go
to Johnson index]
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Anyway, here’s my ironclad prediction for April: Zawahiri
will have some pithy comments about Dick Cheney’s hunting
prowess. “Oh people of the Great Satan, you are doomed
to defeat at the merciful hands of al Qaeda, God willing. You
could not capture Sheik Osama at Tora Bora with all your planes
and tanks, and if your leader Cheney cannot even shoot a bloated
corn-fed bird from the skies of Texas, how can you hope to strike
me here? Also, I predict that ‘Brokeback Mountain’ will
win the Oscar for best director.”
Laugh now, hear the timely Cheney comment in April.
So why is it that
two guys with a camcorder and a really bad courier service
seem to do a better job of propaganda than does
the United States of America? Maybe it’s because they are
at least trying.
Another reason is
wonderfully simple: much of the media in the Muslim world is
sympathetic to al Qaeda’s anti-American
cause and thus sets the bar wonderfully low for the celebrity
cavemen. Their mere survival is declared a victory and our many
victories are declared mere survival. Most foreign media view
themselves as advocate journalists whose job it is to take their
own people’s side in a war.
Much of our media,
by contrast, view themselves as impartial observers, too sophisticated
to take sides in something as provincial
as patriotism and war. And the rest of the western media view
themselves as the world’s moral aristocracy nobly fighting
the proletariat’s real enemy -- us.
In World War II, America’s
media came together to help win the propaganda war. Today much
of it has come together to
help win it for the enemy. The greatest generation got Frank
Capra. We get George Clooney. At this point, George Bush cannot
even pay Armstrong Williams to help out.
The failure of the mainstream Western media to act as a voice
for the positions, concerns, and aims of the Western world in
this conflict has hurt us immeasurably -- both abroad and, especially,
at home.
But there have also been failures in the propaganda of actions
on our part. It is not just with the propaganda of words that
a successful struggle is advanced. The massacre of 9/11 is a
prime example. The attacks were advertising and symbolism, even
more than they were massive physical assaults. The total collapse
of the Twin Towers was a symbolic victory far greater than any
the enemy could have hoped for.
So what have we done
about that? Nothing. Almost five years later, there are not
two new towers in place of the old. Neither
is there a single tower in place of the two that are gone. There
isn’t even a drive through liquor store on the old site.
It remains a hole, a wound, and a victory -- for our enemies.
Imagine the propaganda victory of President Bush, Mayor Rudy
Giuliani and the widows and children of the victims of 9/11 holding
a ceremony to open the New Twin Towers on that site. What better
proof could there be of the vibrancy of America and the futility
of trying to defeat such an industrious people by knocking down
mere buildings? Imagine the worldwide coverage and inspiring
images such an opening would generate.
The moral contrast
of Ayman al-Zawahiri hiding in a mud hut issuing impotent video
fatwas via goat mail, while the United
States had already healed the skyline of New York with soaring
New Twin Towers, would be worth far more than capturing yet another “No.
3” man from al Qaeda. Fighting the symbolism of destruction
with the symbolism of reconstruction and achievement is so important
that the site should have long ago been seized from Silverstein
properties for its failure to rebuild in a timely manner.
Another unused opportunity for the propaganda of actions rests
at Guantanamo. There we hold hundreds of al Qaeda terrorists,
captured out of uniform and in violation of the rules war. And
yet the only forces that have used the prisoners for propaganda
purposes are al Qaeda and the Western press. Indeed, these jihadis
have become a moral fetish for the mainstream media in Europe
and the United States, leading Thomas Friedman to toss his verbal
cookies last year with pleas of:
“Shut it down. Just shut it down…”
“Just shut
it down and then plow it under. It has become worse than an
embarrassment. I am convinced that more Americans
are dying and will die if we keep the Gitmo prison open than
if we shut it down. So, please, Mr. President, just shut it down.”
Well, caving in to catty anti-American whiners in the international
press and shutting down Guantanamo would be an impressive display
of our resolve and moral wherewithal. But how about this alternative:
Shoot them. Just shoot them. Shoot them all and plow them under.
Try them in military courts, document their crimes, their affiliations,
their defiant last statements, or their pitiful begging for mercy,
and shoot them.
They are all subject
to execution under the rules of war, and I cannot believe that
there is “intelligence value” left
in most of them after four years in captivity, so let’s
pick out a particularly nasty character for starters, hold a
fair trial, execute him and establish a precedent. Then wash
and repeat. The alternative is to release these men sooner or
later. As long as men like John Kerry or Jimmy Carter seek the
presidency, there is no life without parole for our enemies.
It is just a matter of time before an election goes badly and
most of the prisoners are released.
Those that have been
released so far become propagandists for the other side, either
by returning home unscathed, returning
to the fight or by granting interviews to the BBC and other European
media outlets with tells of torture and perseverance that are
not in any way exaggerated. Those we execute, on the other hand,
would become propagandist for us. And don’t worry about
making them martyrs, they are already being used as such while
in prison. Plus, a few executions might encourage future prisoners
to more readily trade information for leniency.
Likewise, another
lost opportunity for communicating with action is grumpily
sitting in a box in Iraq. How long does it take to
find Saddam Hussein guilty of having been Iraq’s President
for the last 20 years? His televised trial -- publicly documenting
his brutality and crimes against Iraqis -- is very important
to proceed with. This trial, if conducted justly, would be a
fabulous device to galvanize the hatred and fear of the old regime
into increased support for the new government of Iraq. The bad
old days need to be drilled into people’s heads. Then perhaps
the Iraqis could drill something into Saddam’s head --
say, a thirty-caliber rifle round. Let’s get on with it
before the AARP joins his defense team.
America has fought
parts of this war brilliantly -- but often you would never
know it. The propaganda aspects of our war effort
need more attention. We need to publicize our successes better,
publicize our enemies’ defeats better and think about the
messages that our actions and inactions inevitably send. We owe
such things to the victims of terror attacks and to our troops
that have fought so well and bravely on the ground. We are winning
nearly every battle, but we could still lose the war. -one-
First appeared at Human Events Online
copyright
2006 Mac Johnson
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