| Borders of the Islamic Iraqi State |
I love the smell of election year panic on Sunday morning, but this is ridiculous.
As for Iraq, I mentioned the six Islamic provinces just last week, though few others bothered to notice. What's happened since is serious, especially with the Republican Party parroting Al Qaeda.
First we had Dick
Cheney agreeing with Osama.
Now we've got the president's party using Al Qaeda's message in their latest election
year ad.
Desperation certainly makes strange bedfellows.
So what to make of the fact that the Republican
National Committee has produced its own al-Qaeda video. This is not just
a video which suggests that Republicans will be better at fighting terror.
It actually very closely resembles real al-Qaeda videos.
It has the same tempo, the same images, the same juxtaposition of translated
statements by al-Qaeda's leaders with glorified portrayals of powerful fighters
waging jihad. The images don't just resemble those used in al-Qaeda
videos: many were actually taken from real al-Qaeda videos, and you can still
see the al-Sahab label faintly in the background (do you suppose that the
RNC paid royalties?). A political ad? This video would not look out of place
on a jihadi forum, and it wouldn't surprise me if it actually gets posted
on them and admired (although the production values are a bit low for an actual
al-Sahab product).
Anyone involved in analyzing or combating al-Qaeda's media strategies has
to be astounded that the Republican National Committee has financed, produced,
distributed on
the internet, and aired on US television what is for all intents and purposes
an al-Qaeda recruitment video. The video, if it works as intended, will frighten
the American people and influence American politics… just like al-Qaeda's
own videos. Bin Laden couldn't be prouder, or more grateful, especially since
it didn't cost him a thing.The Arab media has already noticed this bizarre turn of events. Al-Arabiya
describes bin Laden and Zawahiri as “stars”
of the Republican campaign. A
Jordanian columnist marvels that the Republicans are copying al-Qaeda's
use of videos to spread terror in pursuit of their political interests. I
used to be disgusted… but now I'm just amused. Mostly. But I'm sure that
the army of conservative politicians and pundits who have denounced al-Jazeera
and the Arab media and the “MSM” for giving air time to al-Qaeda
videos will be able to muster more outrage.Campaign
ads and recruitment videos (italics above original, bold added)
That's why this plays into our hands. Got timetable?
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