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.

[FITZ]

Where's the picture of Hillary in the dominatrix outfit?

[CWOJackson]

NOT THAT!

[FITZ]

Thanks for putting that link --- that was the funniest thing --- as a Muslim woman would understand you don't even need to put panties over their heads --- just lift them up by your arms. That gets them spitting mad.

[yooper]

Yeah, you nailed it. This stuff is so lame compared to other wars. I actually thought the pictures were a bit comical. As the poster states, the pictures may have made a very large point to a culture which treats it's women like crap. And guess what? NO ONE GOT HURT! Seeing a human being jump from a burning sky scraper; now that's NOT funny. And guess what? That person died and not one Arab or Muslim leader was asked to apologize, nor did any apologize. In fact, those societies cheered at what happened on 911. I say screw 'em, and I say screw the libs who are demanding this non-stop apology.

A long while ago I worked with a guy who fought in the Phillipines after we went back and retook the Islands in WWII. The things he told me that our soldiers did to the Japanese soldiers would make you sick. They didn't do them for the fun of it; they were extracting information that ultimately saved US lives. I have no doubt we did the same thing in Europe. The Geneva convention was violated by us when necessary, and because we won, we wrote the history.

That's why it is called War, it's horrifying by it's nature. I believe the Union General Sherman said something to the effect that "It is good that war is so terrible, else we would grow too fond of it." You want to talk about a guy who "humiliated" and "abused" the enemy? Hell, those Muslims in those photos were in that prison for a reason. Sherman took the battle to non-combatants; women, children, young and old alike. He burned their citys and crops, destroyed every shred of wealth in his path, and made their lives a living hell. Southerners still hate him to this day. And do you know what? It was Sherman and his tactics that won the war for the Union. Had he not taken and destroyed Atlanta, the John Kerry of his day, George McClellan, would have won the election of 1864.

And what of John Kerry? What did he do in the war? By his own admission. Hmmmmmmmm?

[FITZ]

That could be our ultimate weapon.

[hosepipe]

[ 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-]

I noticed.. but thats only because "the Great Satan" runs both the Democrat Party and Islam.. and hes waiting to see what evil the democrats can do on their own.

[bwteim]

Thank aculeus!

[TheLion]

Glad you posted this. I posted on another thread that: "That I don't condone what happened there but it might make our military more respected by our enemies. They might not want to fall into our hands now!"

[Pikachu_Dad]

[sarcasm on ]
Perhaps it was just a secret plot to get obscene pictures past the Saudi sensors... [/sarcasm off ]

[jimbo123]

Bingo. The photo of the dirty iraqi with the dog collar has already saved a bunch American lives.

[CWOJackson]

Maddie Albright in fishnet stockings and a bow tie...(think cottage cheese in a hair net).

[Feiny]

I just spoke to a soldier in Iraq (satellite phone). He is a friend & I asked him about how the Iraqi people are reacting to the photo story....he said they don't give a s&*t. It is a media frenzy here but the people of Iraq don't seem to care.

[yooper]

Hi Arthur! Long time no see!

[Mike Fieschko]

we should have a policy of burying suicide bombers in latrines covered in pig guts

I've read that Gen Pershing, sent to the Phillipines to put down a rebellion by Muslims, buried the dead Muslims wrapped in pigskins which quickly put an end to the rebellion. There's even a snopes page about it, which does not declare the anecdote an urban legend.

[Ole Okie]

Personally I think there's a few bad apples in every barrel. Prosecute them and move on.

*Snicker*

Yeah, how about 20 lashes?

[yooper]

"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."

Could be a good theme for one of those tool company calendars.

SNAP-ON TOOLS presents "The Men of Najaf". I can just picture al-Sadr on all fours, on a leash being held by the woman you describe, with a four-foot pipe wrench in his mouth....

[Damagro]

Uday and Qusay are ed-day.


And Dadday is in an elcey probably somewhere other than Agbadday (sorry, my pig latin is a lil rusty)

[fhayek]

I think it was Robert E Lee who said your quote, but no matter your point is well taken. Listen, it was Sherman who won the Civil War, because after his march to the sea, it was clear to everyone that the Confederacy had been vanquished. Would it have been better if the North had been obsessed with no offending anyone. Similarly, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki drove home the fact the Japan had no chance to win.

The liberals in this country, obsessed with these photos are the best friends the Islamists have. If we retreat from Iraq, it will be because of the Democrats in congress, and not because of anything the terrorists do militarily.

[PhiKapMom]

Intersting take on everything! In fact, it makes perfect sense! Thanks for posting this!

[not2worry]

I think that most Iraqi men looked at those pics and thought "Oh Most Holy Allah, I hope the wife(s) don't get a hold of this!"

I posted before that I think that many of the riots were caused because the Commander Jan at the prison was a woman. Secondly, that there were women guards who had authority over them. That did not bode well.

If I were a Muslim woman and saw that tiny woman pretending she had an AK-14 pointed at their hubby's cajoles, I be saying let me get you a real handheld rocket propeller with an extra round and send him to his 72 Virgins. I'll help pull the trigger!

Muslim women (if they have seen any of these pics) must be grateful that finally the "men" are being abused and not the females in Iraqi.

I don't condone what was done and evidently there is more to come (no pun intended). Geez, these guys were in "prison" and another thought is that maybe a lot of Iraqi's recognized some of their former torturers and were pleased that Allah had sent such "tormentors" to revenge these evil doers.

One last thing! A pair of Hane's women's panties???? Get real, most of the guys in SanFran would have gone for the Victoria Secret thong with matching lace bra.

I hope we get this crap behind us and win the war on terror and have a turnover on June 30th that makes every sacrifice our Country and our Military worthwhile.

The DEMS are fiddling while Rome is burning. Clinton's "I didn't have sex with the woman is more abusive to me as an American than any of the pics I've seen so far!