Propagazi

Rummy Resurfaces, Calls for U.S. Propaganda Agency - Sharon Weinberger @ The Danger Room

It's no surprise that someone like Donny "Let's Get Ready to Rumble" Rumsfeld is promoting a propaganda agency as a response to the war of ideas between the West and Muslim nations. Yet I can't shake the feeling that this is completely the wrong way to go about doing things. Ideological wars are not won through propaganda, or at least through propaganda alone. Where the trouble lies is in the expectation that by promoting pro-Western values in Muslim nation it will lead Muslim youths away from the words of radical imams or jihadists. Moreover, when it's easy enough to see the kind of destruction going on in places like Iraq, suspect news agencies and sources are not effective means of countering the feeling of resentment and rage. Yes, U.S. foreign policy needs to do a better job of promoting its ideas abroad but actions speak louder than words, particularly words that come from a known biased source. Unsurprisingly, Rummy doesn't get this. But at least he's not in any real position of power to enact such misdirected ideas.