Reply #32: No, They Aren't "Dumb" [View All]

[RobinA]

They don't understand us any better than we understand them. They are going for hearts and minds. They think that we are squeamish about horror and this will shock us out of the war. Of course, they are wrong in the short run.

This has to be the dumbest bit of propaganda to come along in a long time. Right when every news outlet in the US is howling in outrage at our treatment of Iraqi prisoners, including many pro-war conservatives, Presidents are apologizing, Secretaries of Defense are embattled, they pull a stunt like this, which drives the torture right off the front page and feeds red meat to the "Arabs are murdering heathens" camp.

Our actions over there provide recruiting posters for al-Qaeda, while their actions fan the pro-war, anti-Arab fires over here. It's positively Shakespearean.