Did the Arab "Street" Geta Message We Didn't Mean to Send?

self | 5/7/04 | LS

[LS]

Amidst all the apologies, I want to suggest we all (Hillary Clinton here) take a deep breath and consider something that no one in the administration or Congress has (publicly) considered:

The POW photos are having an unintended effect on the Arab "Street" and the "resistance."

By now, everyone pretty well knows that Arab societies base everything on power and perceptions of power. In part, that is why so many Freepers and conservatives got their panties in a bunch because it appeared in public like "apologizing" was a sign of weakness.

Ah, my friends. You aren't thinking like an Arab. The "street" and, indeed, the leadership doesn't trust much of what we say---they only look at what we do. It would have made no difference if Bush formally apologized and sent each detainee a bouquet of flowers---the "street" would see that as a sham, a pretense, a distraction from the "real" policy.

No, I suggest something else. That the Arab "street" and especially the "resistance" has taken from those photos a message we didn't intend to send, but one that strikes fear into the very heart of them---a message of pure power and dominance. The submissive positions of these "tough" Iraqi men under the heels and attached to the leashes of WOMEN (and relatively small women, at that) sends a very powerful message to the "street."

Don't screw with the Americans. Oh, they'll "apologize," be we know that when the hearings are over, and the attention is off, they can do what they want.

I want to reiterate: this is foreign to our way of thinking. Unless you're a hard-core Democrat, you don't pathologically lie to achieve your objectives. But we must start thinking like the enemy.

Has anyone noticed that we virtually walked into Najaf this week, unopposed? Al-Sadr did nothing. Has anyone noticed that Fallujah is quiet? Very few roadside bombs/suicide bombs in the last couple of days. This could all change, but it is eerie that when a message of power is sent out all over the Middle East---unintentionally on our part---it resonates. Big time.

[Eala]

Very interesting take!! You may be on to something... hmmm...

[annyokie]

Uday and Qusay are ed-day.

[Eala]

"For your ping list" ping...

[Loyal Buckeye]

I think your point has merit. Time and events will prove your point one way or the other.


One thing I've learned is that what appears to be a major problem ends up not being one.

[antiantiamericans]

What makes you think it is necessarily unintended? Even if the whole thing wasn't planned, we do have people whose sole job is to look for, and exploit, situations like this.

[rogueleader]

It's like judo. You turn your weaknesses into strength. The scandal is a weakness, and we turn it into a strength. Right now, every would-be terrorist is going to have horrible nightmares of sexual torture before they light off their next bomb.

That said, this sexual torture crap is too risky and dangerous to rely on as policy. That's why the people responsible need to have their asses nailed to the wall, no matter what. That's also why it's right to apologize and to put into place policies to make sure this never happens again. Getting gays out of the military is a good start. The next step is to reassign women out of combat roles, and not reassign new women into them.

[Arkie2]

Or the quiet in Falujah could be because we put Iraqis back in charge and the quiet in Najaf could be because the tribes and the Shiite elders demanded Sadr get out? Just want to present an alternate universe here!

[arbee4bush]

I agree with you. I hope that this will work in our favor in the end. What I worry about now is that this hearing today will turn into the Church commission (don't think there won't be a commission out of this) and that there will be handcuffs put on our military and investigative forces like they did to the CIA....make them impotent to be able to conduct the business of interrogating prisoners and getting the needed info to protect our troops during war. I hope I am wrong. But I have this sinking feeling we may never ever be able to wage war and win with the partisanship we have in this country and in the media. Pray I am wrong.

[BlueAngel]

Good post and something to ponder.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Excellent point. Also note this: the prisoners chose to submit to this humiliation. They could have defied us and chosen their 72 virgins. How strong is their faith? I believe that the Japanese were much more devoted to their faith than the Islamics. God willing, I do not expect to see as many suicide bombers as there were kamakazis back during WWII. Right or wrong, some of the guards called their bluff, and we can learn from that.

[feedback doctor]

What great insight into this!!

[dead]

The apologies were strictly for North American and European consumption.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

"What I worry about now is that this hearing today will turn into the Church commission..."

There will be that attempt. It will be a battle royale. A political food fight, and in the end, I believe those who place America first will win out, God willing.

FReegards....

[get'emall]

You know? You may be on to something. We know we're dealing with cowards. Perhaps alSadr crapped his kaftan when he saw those photos and pictured himself naked... barking like a dog with a chain on his neck... at the end of a leash held by a 90 pound woman sucking on a Pall Mall.

Hmmmm... there could be something there. Thought-provoking.

[Eala]

every would-be terrorist is going to have horrible nightmares of sexual torture

Sexual torture? I don't know, but it seems possible that that nightmare ends with end of the torture. This is sexual humiliation -- and in that culture maybe more than elsewhere, that is forever. (At least until you respond to one of those spam e-mails... *\;-)

[Bosco]

These images would not have gotten the same amount of attention had we (the West) not made a big stink about them.

I venture to suggest that the current inmates of Abu Gharaib are the best treated in the history of the prison.

[tertiary01]

Ms England might really be a heroine? You never know. Events often play out in unusual ways.