Also in the world of terror spin
Make note that both the WaPo and NYTimes are carrying stories this morning distancing Yemen's leadership from US cooperation.
Somebody wants it very widely reported that the Yemeni leader isn't in the US pocket. (I'm guessing so he can be in pocket.)
Just seems like the intelligence folks are really using the press right now.
Somebody wants it very widely reported that the Yemeni leader isn't in the US pocket. (I'm guessing so he can be in pocket.)
Just seems like the intelligence folks are really using the press right now.
posted by mikevotes at
7:37 AM
2 Comments:
I find myself conflicted... It guess my level of outrage depends on whose ox is being gored (or spun).
While I prefer my news straight -- with accurate context -- I find it hard to be as pissed off about this spinning as I was with the Bush Myth-machine.
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That said, the NYT article does illustrate (maybe indirectly) that the nations in which we are engaging al Qaeda (Afghanistan, iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, etc.) all have stronger emotional and cultural ties to our enemy than they do to use. Not to mention all the other human characteristics of their political leaders -- greed, lust for power, wealth, corruption.
We are trying to make our war, their war. We're trying to convince them that the Taliban and al Qaeda are THEIR enemy... And I think many of these nations would be much more willing to compromise with the extremists than fight them.
We cannot defeat al Qaeda or the Taliban. Only the host nations can do this. Only the host nations can claim the mantle of "good" Muslims and purge the heretical "bad" Muslims. This, the west can never do. And right now the countries in which the extremist operate and find safe haven are either too feeble, corrupt and uninterested in doing this.
By
-epm, at 10:26 AM
First off, I think I've been struck by the softness by the NYTimes to this tactic, especially since the Obama team took office.
The NYTimes has long served as stenographer and propagandist, but it seems the Obama foreign policy folks (definitely not thedomestic policy folks) are getting a tremendously friendly ride. Part of that may just be that the Clinton folks really know how to pull the levers.
....
As for the broader point on our war/their war, the best you can hope for s to shift their equation so that their cost benefit makes them act in ways that help us. For instance, it's in Pakistan's interest right now to combat elements of the Taleban. That doesn't mean they're taking out the Taleban, but, for right now, they are acting in a partial direction we want although with their own goals.
I think that's the best we can hope for.
By
mikevotes, at 1:09 PM
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