Bloggin' for Counterterrorism

Came across an interesting read in the Washington Post and thought I should share. It seems my cousins in the State Department are making efforts via the Middle Eastern blogosphere to conduct diplomatic efforts in reshaping the paradigm and values associated with GWOT.

"Our core message must outline an alternative future that is more attractive than the bleak future offered by the terrorists," said Michael Doran, deputy assistant secretary of defense for support of public diplomacy.

This is a big development and I don't know why it got shoved to the back on A15. For too long, many senior people in America believed we were in some sort of culture war of Judeo-Christian values vs. Middle Eastern values. This can probably be attributed to the rise of the Christian Right thinking that governmental policies had to somehow be approved by Jesus himself. I'm no multiculturalist, because some cultures are better than others, but trying to impose the "American way" over in the Middle East just ain't gonna work and is a bad idea in the first place. These countries have been around for thousands of years and have survived Alexander the Great, the Mongols, and the Ottoman Empire. So how come when the CPA started out here they were pushing anti-smoking campaigns and Western-style democracy while the insurgency began to foment. We need practical solutions that are in-line with Iraq's geography and history. Which is why I'm glad to be serving in Iraq under GEN Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker who understand that very well. Kick out the badguys, help get the lights on, and help the government spend their oilbucks to benefit the Iraqi people. We can hold off on implementing seatbelt laws in Baghdad.

But anyways, it's been noted that most suicide bombers are disheveled youth who get a lot of their unacceptable ideology from Muj websites . Most of them are young, pissed, and impressionable, so much so that killing fellow Muslims is viable. Despite what political, cultural or religious background you're from, I think we can agree that killing innocent civilians walking around the marketplace is no good. This type of effort from the staties should be beneficial in addressing this issue with the would-be terrorists and the 99.9% of the Muslim world that isn't terrorists as well. We're just here to stop terrorism and get you on your feet after years of Baath party tyranny, not open up Disneyland in the holy city of Najaf.

Unfortunately, bloggin' is still not even close to having the influence of the mass media. And the mass media is still gonna cover the American point of view from the Rices, Cheneys, Bushes, and Pelosis, not the mid-level diplomats. But at least this might put a dent on things. So arise my fellow infidels and join the bloggin' fight!

I know, I know, I'm not supposed to badmouth Bush, him being the last stop in my chain of command and all, but I'm just poking fun. Sometimes I think he just doesn't come off so well, even though he means well. Hopefully blogs and other forms of communication can supplement our practical and realistic objectives over here...