$50 on the way.

OK, I know I’m old and tend to get side-tracked and single-minded about stuff, but why isn’t some organization like Voice of America doing this kinda’ stuff? Did I Rip van Winkle somewhere and miss it?

Voice of America is still around isn’t it? (Yep, it’s even got it’s own multi-language web site) So have I been naïve, ignorant, or just asleep in assuming we had some sort of counter-Jihadi media broadcast going over there?

Well, looks like another 8+ hrs. or so while I do the work on this – another day shot in the butt. Hate it when stuff like this gets past me.

I’ll call the $50 and raise it $100.

OK, just left the VOA site --- Lemme see if I’ve got this right: Voice of America broadcasts in Kurdish and Armenian (who are already our friends) but not in Arabic. By my sketchy analysis, that means we have abandoned the media wars to the al-Jihadis, CNN, BBC, and Peter Arnet.

Somebody just found my piss-off button. Time to set up the old pulpit and go find my drum. How in bloody blue blazes did this happen?

Somebody, puhleeze tell me I’m missing something.

Is VOA run by NPR or PBS?

Damn, I hope it's MY train that's derailed here ....

Beerded One: maybe they have trouble getting Arabic-speaking broadcasters?

Dunno, just guessing...

Hey guys. I'm talking to some other bloggers about trying to get a competitive pledge drive going. We emailed dthe Spirit of America folks. Stay tuned.....

Oughta' be some corporate donation of equipment - anyone w/ contacts in CompUSA, Gateway, Microsoft, or the like?

Meanwhile - e-mails have now been sent to Voice of America, 2 Senators, 6 congress-critters, and Fox news. Anyone offer other suggestions?

Matched and doubled.

I’m in search of input. I spent all day chasing down the absence of Official American News broadcasts directed to the Islamic/Arabic countries. I’ve talked with dozens of acquaintances. To my amazement, most were underwhelmed.

There are suggestions that I am over reacting, that I am being melodramatic, and that perhaps I’m being just a cranky old man. Harrumph and other dirty words.

Let me lay out my case – then respond. Should I be concerned? Should you be concerned? Should I put away my podium, wash the brasso off my armor, and send my destrier back to pasture? Are those windmills I see or real dragons? I want to hear.

My case: To win this war (as most wars) we must convince the opposition that it is in their interest to quit fighting. Those of the enemy who are willing (and even eager) to die to kill Americans and bring down Western Civilization need to be killed. F-16s, Abrams tanks, and marines with M-16s will do that job. The infrastructure that supports that enemy is not so vulnerable to firepower. Firepower can win the battles, the war can only be won when the Islamic cultural base decides to quit.

A weapon is a tool used to change your opponents’ minds. The weapon we must use to change Arabic minds is information. Unless and until we can convince the infamous Arab street that modernization and Western culture are not the tools of Satan this war will continue into the next generation and beyond. The mosques, madrasas, and street will continue to create Islamic martyrs because these medieval cultures know only what their religious and political leaders tell them of us. The Jihadi media foments anger, distrust, and violence against the West. The average Arab believes we are the archenemy of Islam because nobody is telling them otherwise.

The Marines seeking broadcast equipment understand this dilemma. But the problem is not unique to Iraq. Voice of America does not broadcast in Arabic. It does not, therefore, broadcast to the Arab street. Our diplomats and politicians can meet and discuss issues with the overlords/leaders of these people, but the cultural change will not occur until the people themselves change their minds. If the only way we can ‘win’ this war is to put an armed American on every Arab street corner then we might as well come home now, because we’ve already lost. As I pointed out elsewhere – we can enforce behavior, we cannot enforce morality.

This information gap is another front of the war on terror. If our government does nothing, the war on that front is lost by default. This will doom the East and West to decades and generations of conflict.

So, am I an overreacting, melodramatic, cranky old fart or is this a battle worth fighting?

The last I heard, Beerded one, we are currently broadcasting American television into Iraq, and we are also doing radio broadcasts not through Voice Of America but through other sources. I know I have read about this--they don't do Voice of America but they broadcast music and news in these Arab countries through other channels.

I remember reading about it more than once, but I have no links offhand.

There is, however, obviously a need for more, particularly televised--all the efforts I've read about so far are either radio, or are simply rebroadcasts of CNN and Fox News and such.

Yeah, here's a story on it: it's called Radio Sawa. You can find an article about it
here.

I couldn't stand by the sidelines anymore. $50 is on the way. By the way, my son is the Videographer for the 273 Marine Wing Support Squadron in Iraq. He's a good person trying to do his duty to his country. I always try to remember that no matter where any discussion takes me.

I’ve climbed down from my hobby horse. I have received a ‘real’ message from a bureaucrat who responded to my actual questions. That such people exist encourages me. No, I will NOT post his/her name – someone doing their job does not need to be inundated with e-mails.

The substance of the response was that there is IN FACT Arabic language television programming and broadcasting. It is done through BBG (Broadcasting Board of Governors). The television arm is named Alhurra and began broadcasting in Feb. 2004.

I will not demand that the 9/11 Inquisition look into why it took until 02/04 to get something like that going, I will simply fade back into the shadows on this issue, satisfied to know that it’s being done. (Like the dancing dog – what’s amazing is not how gracefully it moves, but that it dances at all).