MIND WARS: AMERICANS, GLOBAL COMMUNITY ARE TARGETS OF DECEPTION ON IRAQ, THREATS TO PEACE - STEVE HAMMONS (AMERICAN CHRONICLE, CA, SEPTEMBER 28): In late August, news accounts described a new $20 million program to monitor media reports in not only the Middle East, but also within the U.S. Appropriate efforts of this kind can be very helpful in accomplishing legitimate goals as well as creating goodwill and effective public diplomacy for the U.S. and Americans.
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/...articleID=14097

THE DEMISE OF AMERIKA HAUS BERLIN: WHO NEEDS CULTURAL CENTERS AND LIBRARIES ANYWAY? - PATRICIA H. KUSHLIS (WHIRLED VIEW, SEPTEMBER 29): What far too many Americans don't understand is the degree to which the administration has been able to insulate us from the rest of the world. Conversely, they also don't realize the degree to which the American media machine plays little -- if any role in shaping international opinion.
http://whirledview.typepad.com/whirledview...emise_of_a.html

CLASH: MUSHARRAF IS (NOT) THE MAN - MASOODR (UNCLASH: UNWINDING THE CONFRONTATION BETWEEN ISLAM AND THE WEST THROUGH REASONABLE DISCOURSE AND DEBATE, OCTOBER 1): Pakistanis are outraged that their President Musharraf has used a taxpayer-funded state visit to the United States to promote his book, which is a means of personal promotion and enrichment as much as it is public diplomacy.
http://unclash.blogspot.com/2006/10/clash-...is-not-man.html

AL QAEDA INCREASINGLY RELIANT ON MEDIA - HASSAN M. FATTAH (NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 30): Chris Heffelfinger, a specialist in jihadi ideology at the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point: "Al Qaeda has been turning itself from an active organization into a propaganda organization. They now appear to be focused on putting out disinformation and projecting the strength of the mujahedeen.Ö?
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/world/30...agewanted=print

WHERE'S THE TRUST? - MARC LYNCH (ABU AARDVARK, SEPTEMBER 29): "So this afternoon I went to download the latest Ayman al-Zawahiri [Al Quaeda leader] video from the usual forum where I find al-Sahab productions. And I found it right away, and downloaded it, and then... it opened as a password protected file. Password protected! What has this online world come to when even al-Qaeda jihadist terrorists feel like they can't trust people?
http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark...s.html#comments
SEE ALSO
http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark...hiri_video.html

BUSH ADMITS TO SETBACKS IN AFGHANISTAN - TOM RAUM, ASSOCIATED PRESS (WASHINGTON POST, SEPTEMBER 29): President Bush asserted Friday that critics who claim the Iraq war has made America less safe embrace "the enemy's propaganda."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2900802_pf.html

ALL THE NEWS FROM IRAQ IS BAD ... AND GETTING WORSE: THE BREAKING POINT - MIKE WHITNEY (COUNTERPUNCH, SEPTEMBER 30/OCTOBER 1): The administration continues to (cynically) believe that their well-paid propagandists can prevail in the "hearts and minds" campaign by creating patriotic sound bytes and poignant anecdotes about devoted soldiers performing their duties. What's needed, however, is a dramatic change of policy.
http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney09302006.html

WHY I'M BANNED IN THE USA - TARIQ RAMADAN (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 1): "For more than two years now, the U.S. government has barred me from entering the United States to pursue an academic career. ... I am increasingly convinced that the Bush administration has barred me [because it] doesn't care for my political views. (Tariq Ramadan, a fellow at Oxford University, is author of "Western Muslims and the Future of Islam.")
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2901334_pf.html

TRIBUNAL BILL SETS UP AN IRONIC LEGAL LIMBO: DETAINEES DEEMED LESS OF A THREAT MIGHT GO UNTRIED YET BE UNABLE TO CHALLENGE DETENTION - JULIAN E. BARNES AND RICHARD B. SCHMITT (LOS ANGELES TIMES, SEPTEMBER 30): The government plans to try about 100 of the detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- those suspected of the most serious crimes against the United States. These prisoners, and any others charged, would be able to appeal convictions to the U.S. courts. The other 355 detainees, who are considered less of a threat, may never be tried and may therefore be denied the right to challenge their imprisonment.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/a...142,print.story

NO 'HOLIDAY' IN GUANTAMO: I NEVER SAW RUMSFELD'S VOLLEYBALL COURTS DURING MY TWO YEARS IN AMERICA'S GULAG - MOAZZAM BEGG (LOS ANGELES TIMES, OCTOBER 1): It's little wonder that there are powerful voices -- including European allies, former U.S. presidents, Hollywood stars and even veterans of conflicts such as the Vietnam War -- joining Amnesty International and former detainees in calling for the closure of Guantanamo.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-...inion-rightrail

WHAT MY FATHER SAW AT NUREMBERG: SIXTY YEARS AGO TODAY, MY FATHER WATCHED THE U.S. WIN THE BATTLE OF IDEAS. HAVE WE LOST OUR WAY? - CHRISTOPHER DODD (LOS ANGELES TIMES, OCTOBER 1): Just as the word "Nuremberg" once defined the United States' moral authority and commitment to justice, what we risk today is that, one day, the loss of that moral authority and a commitment to injustice may also be defined by a single word: "Guantanamo." (Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) is a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.)
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-...inion-rightrail

SOFT CELL: THE REALITY OF GUANTANAMO - RICH LOWRY (NATIONAL REVIEW, SEPTEMBER 28): Dealing with unappeasable murderous fanatics, while at the same time honoring our civilized norms, is never going to be easy. Gitmo is an attempt to find that balance, in the midst of what everyone here -- the detainees and their minders -- recognizes as an ongoing war.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ODE2Y...DZjZTc1NjliZDI=

RIP, BILL OF RIGHTS, RIP - RICHARD KIM (NATION, OCTOBER 1): The US now holds 14,000 detainees in prisons in Iraq, Guantanamo, Afghanistan and other undisclosed locations. 14,000 people who can be held indefinitely, without a fair trial, by secret evidence they have no access or that may be obtained by what most consider torture.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?bid=15

LOOK PAST THE TORTURED DISTORTIONS - JOHN W. WARNER, JOHN MCCAIN AND LINDSEY O. GRAHAM (WALL STREET JOURNAL, OCTOBER 2): The Military Commissions Act of 2006 achieves a fair system for the prosecution and conviction of suspected terrorists and also reaffirms and underscores our nation's commitment to the Geneva Conventions, which we must uphold as a matter of principle and to protect our service members in this and future wars.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB1159...1846979627.html
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WHEN PUSH COMES TO TORTURE - JONAH GOLDBERG (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 28): According to the torture prohibitionists, there must be a complete ban on anything that even looks like torture, regardless of context, even though we'd never dream of a blanket ban on killing.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion...ncommentary-hed

WHY TORTURE IS STILL AN OPTION: THE COMPROMISE TERRORISM DETAINEE BILL LIMITS INTERROGATION ABUSES -- AND LETS BUSH SET THE LIMITS - MICHAEL DUFFY (TIME MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 1)
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/...1541238,00.html

EVEN TIMOTHY MCVEIGH WAS AFFORDED CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS: THE FLAWS IN THE MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT - SEN. RUSSELL FEINGOLD (COUNTERPUNCH, SEPTEMBER 28): If we cloak cruel or degrading interrogations done in the name of American safety with euphemisms like "alternative techniques," if we create arbitrary dates for when differing degrees of morality will apply, we will have betrayed our principles and ourselves.
http://www.counterpunch.org/feingold09282006.html

A CONSTITUTIONAL SHREDDING: ROUNDING UP U.S. CITIZENS - MARJORIE COHN (COUNTERPUNCH, SEPTEMBER 30/OCTOBER 1): Because the Military Commissions Act of 2006 governing the treatment of detainees was adopted with lightning speed, barely anyone noticed that it empowers Bush to declare not just aliens, but also U.S. citizens, "unlawful enemy combatants."
http://www.counterpunch.org/cohn09302006.html

TERROR 2016 - AZIZ HUQ (TOMPAINE.COM, SEPTEMBER 29): The Military Commissions Act of 2006 is a blank check cashed in the liberties of the country's citizens and in the wasted lives of the unfortunate innocent people swept up in America's global detention system.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/09/29/terror_2016.php

WHY CHURCHILL OPPOSED TORTURE: THE BRITISH LEADER UNDERSTOOD WHAT PRESIDENT BUSH DOES NOT: WHEN IT COMES TO PRISONERS OF WAR, WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND - NIALL FERGUSON (LOS ANGELES TIMES, OCTOBER 2): Last week, both houses of Congress approved a bill -- the Military Commissions Act -- that would permit the indefinite, extrajudicial incarceration of terrorist suspects and their interrogation using torture in all but name.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-...inion-rightrail

WHEN DEMOCRACY FAILS US - JERRY LANSON (COMMON DREAMS, SEPTEMBER 29): Even those who have fought proudly in Iraq and Afghanistan and fully support all aspects of what President Bush calls Americas War on Terror say that tinkering with the Geneva Conventions could open the floodgates of torture everywhere, endangering any American soldier unlucky enough to be captured by an enemy.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0929-34.htm

TORTURE AND THE FIRST LADY: READING THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV BY A HOUSTON SWIMMING POOL - JOHN BROWN (COMMON DREAMS, OCTOBER 4): Mrs. Bush might wish to cite the passage on torture from the book she has proclaimed among her favorites -- the Russian literary classic "The Brothers Karamazov" -- at the next White House event emphasizing the importance of reading.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1003-35.htm

LIBERATING OURSELVES: FAILURE TO ACHIEVE THE EASY VICTORY THE HAWKS PROMISED IN IRAQ DOESNT MEAN THAT WE MUST CONTINUE TO LOSE - PAUL W. SCHROEDER (AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE, OCTOBER 9): Promoting Western values in the Arab-Muslim worlds by public diplomacy, in particular attempts to sell the American way of life and convince others that Americans are truly friends and protectors of Islam and can serve as honest brokers, only serves to make the U.S. look ridiculous and discredit the moderates in Islam who would like to adapt to modernity, thus aiding the radicals.
http://amconmag.com/2006/2006_10_09/cover.html

INTERVIEW WITH BURHAN GHALIOUN - HICHEM KAROUI (MIDDLE EAST ONLINE, OCTOBER 4): Q -- "What do you think of the democratisation program initiated by the Bush administration as a public diplomacy in the Middle East?" B. Ghalioun, French-Syrian professor of political sociology at Sorbonne University -- "Without doubting anybody's intentions, I think that the democracy project proposed by the American administration was meant to win some legitimacy for an undertaking related to political and military domination in the region."
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=17710

CHINA'S CHARM OFFENSIVE - JOSHUA KURLANTZICK (COMMENTARY): Countering the new China is a task requiring a kind of intellectual and ideological agility at which Americans are not much practiced.
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/Archive/...&aid=12203037_1
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SIFTING THE INTELLIGENCE FROM THE POLITICS - (ASIA TIMES, OCTOBER 3): Michael Scheuer, the former head of the Osama bin Laden desk at the US Central Intelligence Agency: "The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) leaves the impression that we're hated in the Muslim world because we're Americans. That, thank goodness, is just not the case yet. We're hated for our policies and their impact."
http://atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/HJ03Aa05.html

U.S. TO GAUGE IRAQI SUPPORT FOR OPERATIONS: MILITARY PLANS TO HIRE A CONTRACTOR TO CONDUCT POLLS AND SET UP FOCUS GROUPS - WALTER PINCUS (WASHINGTON, SEPTEMBER 28): The Baghdad command confirmed that it has awarded a two-year, $12.4 million contact to handle strategic communications management to the Lincoln Group, the Washington-based public relations company found late last year to have been paying money to place favorable articles in the Iraqi news media.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2701912_pf.html
SEE ALSO
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1002-20.htm

SUPPRESSING THE IRAQ STORY - PAUL MCLEARY (TOMPAINE.COM, OCTOBER 3): Iraq and the U.S. are stifling the very thing they say they are building in Iraq -- free speech and a free press.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/10/0..._iraq_story.php
Text of entry from
http://tompaine.com/

IRAQ WAR DRAWS FOREIGN JIHADISTS, BUT NOT IN DROVES: AT MOST, 1 IN 10 FIGHTERS IS FROM ABROAD, ONE STUDY ESTIMATES. BUT WILL THEY LATER 'EXPORT' JIHAD? - PETER GRIER (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, OCTOBER 3)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1003/p03s03-woiq.html


DEBATING WITHDRAWAL IV: WHAT AL-QAEDA WANTS - MARC LYNCH (ABU AARDVARK, OCOTBER 3): Al-Qaeda wants American troops in Iraq, not an American withdrawal.
http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark...tiyah_lett.html

BUSH AND BARNEY'S PATH TO WATERLOO - EHSAN AHRARI (ASIA TIMES, OCTOBER 3): If the United States does not find an honorable way out of Iraq, it seems that it is steadily edging toward another humiliating exit, a la Vietnam, notwithstanding the Bush administration's endless denial that Iraq is not Vietnam.
http://atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/HJ03Aa01.html

HOW TO LOSE A WAR: THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S MISMANAGEMENT OF IRAQ HAS BEEN CHRONICLED IN SHOCKING DETAIL - EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 4): We continue to agree with Mr. Bush that it would be wrong and dangerous for U.S. troops simply to withdraw. But it is also dangerous when leaders such as Mr. Bush, Vice President Cheney and Mr. Rumsfeld continue to resist reality.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6100301316.html


MORE TROOPS, PLEASE - PETE HEGSETH (WALL STREET JOURNAL, OCTOBER 3): "I believe, as the president noted, that 'the safety of America depends on the outcome of the battle in the streets of Baghdad.' Why then do we have just enough troops in Iraq not to lose?"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1159840190...days_us_opinion
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'QUAGMIRE' ISN'T THE RIGHT WORD - NORMAN SOLOMON (ANTIWAR.COM, OCTOBER 3): If the Iraq war is primarily framed as a problem because of what it's doing to Americans, the "solutions" could make the war seem like less of a quagmire even while more Iraqi people pay with their lives.
http://www.antiwar.com/solomon/?articleid=9783

BUSH ADMINISTRATION MAY BE MISREADING IRANIAN THREAT - STEVE CHAPMAN (BALTIMORE SUN, OCTOBER 2): President Bush ought to be using every means short of war to dissuade Iran from building a bomb. But if he can't, there are worse things than having to coexist with a nuclear-armed enemy.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/o...0,2331971.story


THE DREAM-KILLER; LIBERALS, TAKE NOTE: WAR WITH IRAN IS A GENUINE POSSIBILITY, AND IT WOULD DESTROY THE PROSPECTS OF PROGRESSIVE FOREIGN POLICY REFORM FOR YEARS TO COME - MATTHEW YGLESIAS (AMERICAN PROSPECT, OCTOBER 3)
http://www.prospect.org/web/printfriendly-view.ww?id=12073


REACH OUT TO THE RED ZONE - DAVID IGNATIUS (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 4): To escape a traveling Green Zone mentality in the Middle East, Rice needs to create a process for engaging America's friends and adversaries.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...0301197_pf.html


STAY HOME, MS. RICE - PATRICK SEALE (TOMPAINE.COM, OCTOBER 3): The U.S. Secretary of State's mission is to attempt to mobilize Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States against Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas. This may be what Israel and its friends are demanding, but it is not what the United States should do.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/10/0...ome_ms_rice.php


RICE'S GAZA CHALLENGE - EDITORIAL (HAARETZ, OCTOBER 2): The immediate challenge facing Rice in her current trip to the Middle East is to bring about the kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit's release, to stop the terror from Gaza and seal off the Philadelphi route, lest her visit turn into a prologue for war rather than peace.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/769527.html


IN AFGHANISTAN, US TROOPS TACKLE AID PROJECTS -- AND SKEPTICISM - SCOTT PETERSON (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, OCTOBER 2)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1002/p01s03-wosc.htm


GET SERIOUS ABOUT AFGHANISTAN - MAX BOOT (LOS ANGELES TIMES, OCTOBER 4): Without more financial aid and efforts to curb the Taliban, the country will slip into the same chaos as Iraq.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-...inion-rightrail


PAKISTAN SAID TO PLAY BOTH SIDES ON TERROR WAR: ACCUSATIONS FROM MUMBAI TO KABUL TO LONDON FINGER PAKISTAN'S SPY AGENCY FOR BACKING TERROR AND THE TALIBAN - MARK SAPPENFIELD (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, OCTOBER 2)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1002/p01s04-wosc.html


TERROR SANCTUARY: THE TALIBAN AND AL QAEDA ARE MOUNTING ATTACKS FROM THE SAFETY OF PAKISTAN - CHRISTIAN LOWE (WEEKLY STANDARD, OCTOBER 3)
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...12/771znhto.asp


DON'T PASS THE SALTED PEANUTS, HENRY - MAUREEN DOWD (NEW YORK TIMES, OCTOBER 4): Half a century of foreign affairs experience, and Kissinger still doesn't understand that humiliating young Arab men -- and occupying Muslim land -- just radicalizes them? Were expanding terror at a cost of about $6 billion a month.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/10/04/opini...agewanted=print
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BUSH TEAM'S ERRORS MAKE THE WAR ON TERROR TOUGHER - TRUDY RUBIN (BALTIMORE SUN, OCTOBER 3): The issue is whether the astounding errors made by this administration in Iraq have opened a new front in the fight against radical Islamists that will make the overall struggle much harder. The answer is a resounding yes.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/o...-oped-headlines


AN ENEMY AND WAR BORN FROM IGNORANCE - JAMES CARROLL (BOSTON GLOBE, OCTOBER 2): Bush created a cohesive enemy where it did not really exist before. So-called jihadists have been rallied, strengthened, and made lethal by Iraq. They will haunt the world for years, in a global war unlike anything ever seen before.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...norance?mode=PF


THE NEW BOYS OF TERROR - FOUAD AJAMI (U.S. NEW & WORLD REPORT, OCTOBER 1): Assassins derives from the Arabic hashshashin (hashish takers), after a terrorist cult that was established in Iran in the 11th century. The followers of this cult are the forerunners of today's terrorists.
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/061001/9fouad.htm


WHY AMERICA IS LOSING ABROAD - HARLAN ULLMAN (WASHINGTON TIMES, OCTOBER 4): The United States has the most capable military in the world. So what do jihadist extremists do? They neutralize that predominant force by taking the fight to the cities where American military superiority is diluted or defeated by the inherent difficulties of operating in urban environments in which the enemy blends in with non-combatants.
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...03-084819-8945r


A DISASTER BY ANY MEASURE - WILLIAM PFAFF (NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS, OCTOBER 19): A realistic assessment of the terrorism threat, which had nothing to do with Iraq (as Bush and Cheney in the last few days have both assured us, five years late), would have presented it as of modest and potentially containable scale, as has proven to be the case. President Bush and Karl Rove, his propaganda packager, preferred the global cold war model -- the "long war" -- capable of being presented to the American public as a communism-like "struggle for the world," so as to mobilize Americans around George Bush, wearing his flight jacket.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19432


TV REVIEW: 'RETURN OF THE TALIBAN' -- FAILURE TO ROOT OUT A SECRET FRONT IN THE WAR ON TERROR: ALESSANDRA STANLEY (NEW YORK TIMES, OCTOBER 3)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/03/arts/tel...agewanted=print

VICE AND VIRTUE IN DETAINEE BILL - EDITORIAL (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 2): Senator McCain says that in addition to banning torture, the detainee bill will outlaw simulated drowning, extreme use of sleep deprivation and stress positions, and anything causing serious mental harm. But the White House declines to say that.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion...newsopinion-hed

"WITHDRAWAL OF U.S. TROOPS WILL BECOME LIKE SALTED PEANUTS TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC; THE MORE U.S. TROOPS COME HOME, THE MORE WILL BE DEMANDED."

--Henry Kissinger (1969); cited in Maureen Dowd, "Don't Pass the Salted Peanuts, Henry" (New York Times, October 4)
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/10/04/opini...agewanted=print
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"HAD WE GONE INTO BAGHDAD -- WE COULD HAVE DONE IT. YOU GUYS COULD HAVE DONE IT. YOU COULD HAVE BEEN THERE IN 48 HOURS. AND THEN WHAT?"

--George H. W. Bush, Feb. 28, 1999, Fort Myer Army base; Quoted p. 11, "State of Denial," by Bob Woodward; cited in Joel Achenbach "It Would Have Been Disastrous" (Washington Post, October 2)
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/achenblog/2...sastrous_1.html


"THE CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT AS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF TO INTRODUCE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES INTO HOSTILITIES, OR INTO SITUATIONS WHERE IMMINENT INVOLVEMENT IN HOSTILITIES IS CLEARLY INDICATED BY THE CIRCUMSTANCES ARE EXERCISED ONLY PURSUANT TO (1) A DECLARATION OF WAR, (2) SPECIFIC STATUTORY AUTHORIZATION, OR (3) A NATIONAL EMERGENCY CREATED BY A ATTACK UPON THE UNITED STATES, ITS TERRITORIES OR POSSESSIONS, OR ITS ARMED FORCES."

--The Wars Power Act; cited in Matthew Yglesias, "The Dream-Killer" (American Prospect, October 3)
http://www.prospect.org/web/printfriendly-view.ww?id=12073

WHY NOT LET THEM HATE US, AS LONG AS THEY FEAR US? - CHAS W. FREEMAN, JR. (REMARKS TO THE UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION, OCTOBER 4, 2006, MIDDLE EAST POLICY COUNCIL): To rediscover public diplomacy and to practice it successfully we must repudiate Caligula's maxim -- ("let them hate us, as long as they fear us") -- and replace it with our traditional respect for the opinion of mankind. USIA (United States Information Agency, 1953-1999) or a reasonable facsimile of it will rise again!
http://www.mepc.org/whats/whynot.asp

EARS WIDE SHUT: FOR MORE THAN A YEAR, KAREN HUGHES HAS BEEN TRYING TO SELL GEORGE BUSH'S AMERICA TO THE MIDDLE EAST. HERES WHY IT ISN'T WORKING - ILANA OZERNOY (ATLANTIC MONTHLY, NOVEMBER): Part of Hughes's past political strength has been her ability to connect with average Americans and communicate the president's policies in terms they understand. But foreign audiences don't necessarily think the same way, and they haven't responded as favorably to her bootstrap bluntness, folksy charm, and anecdotes about being a mother.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200611/karen-hughes
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WASHINGTON SAYS ITS EFFORTS IN PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES GO UNRECOGNISED - AFP (MIDEAST OBSERVER: ISRAEL, LEBANON, IRAN. WORLD TERRORISM, OCTOBER 4): US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes said she regretted Washington's efforts in the Palestinian territories went largely unrecognized in the media. Hughes began a three-day visit to France on Tuesday during which she will address the international women's forum in Deauville, an annual meeting of the worlds women leaders.
http://middeast.com/archives/1576

SPINNING POP TUNES TO BEAT THE TALIBAN: A US-SPONSORED RADIO STATION ENDEARS ITSELF TO AFGHANS BY BROADCASTING THE TRUTH - ALONG WITH A FEW GOOD HITS - SCOTT PETERSON (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, OCTOBER 4): The aim of the radio station is to help win support by publicizing the U.S. Army's local development projects. The programming is diverse: Daily progress reports on US-funded projects; the death tolls of insurgents and US soldiers alike; and a mix of popular music that brings in 40 tune request letters a day from local villages.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1004/p06s02-wosc.html

CENSORSHIP, SCEPTICISM AND CONSPIRACY THEORIES: INFORMATION IN IRAN IS LARGELY CONTROLLED BY THE STATE, LEADING MANY IRANIANS TO DISCOUNT ALL MEDIA, NO MATTER WHERE IT COMES FROM. WACKY CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND A HEALTHY SKEPTICISM ARE THE RESULT - CAMERON ABADI IN TEHRAN (SPEIGEL INTERNATIONAL, SEPTEMBER 28): Most Iranians that tune-in to American-funded Voice of America and lower-budget LA talk shows are well aware that those broadcasts are aiming for regime change.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,438601,00.html
SEE ALSO
http://softpowerbeacon.blogspot.com/
(October 5 item)

NOTES FROM THE MARGINS OF MANCHESTER... - PETER J. QUARANTO (FOOTNOTES FROM THE BRITISH UNDERGROUND, OCTOBER 5): "Even though, I expected it, I've been surprised by the level and intensity of anti-Americanism here among folks from the UK and elsewhere. ... If the US is to regain its standing and reputation in the world as a principled power, we've got quite a task ahead of us in public diplomacy, humility and ultimately (my take): humanitarianism."
http://peterquaranto.blogspot.com/2006/10/...manchester.html

IRAQ VETERANS WORKING FOR CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGNS - JONATHAN SPRINGSTON (ATLANTA PROGRESSIVE NEWS, OCTOBER 5): Air Force Veteran Tim Goodrich, who co-founded Iraq Veterans Against the War, took part in and witnessed the bombing of Iraq while President Bush was still telling the public diplomacy was the top priority. These inconsistent and apparently misleading actions did not sit well with Goodrich.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0610/S00060.htm

THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT: TO REACH A LASTING PEACE - (INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP, OCTOBER 5): The Arab League should propose direct talks with the Israeli government to describe and discuss the 2002 Beirut Initiative and launch a public diplomacy campaign aimed in particular at the U.S. and Israel to explain that initiative.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900S...N7?OpenDocument
(link may not be accessible)

SOFTWARE BEING DEVELOPED TO MONITOR OPINIONS OF U.S. - ERIC LIPTON (NEW YORK TIMES, OCTOBER 4): A consortium of major universities, using Homeland Security Department money, is developing software that would let the government monitor negative opinions of the United States or its leaders in newspapers and other publications overseas. Such a "sentiment analysis" is intended to identify potential threats to the nation, security officials said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/04/us/04mon...agewanted=print

MISREADING THE TEA LEAVES: US MISSTEPS ON FOREIGN POLICY - STEPHEN M. WALT (BOSTON GLOBE, OCTOBER 5): Independent surveys of global opinion and separate studies by the Defense Science Board and the State Department showed that anti-Americanism is primarily a reaction to specific US policies. Yet Bush and his advisers never considered whether a different set of policies might reduce global opposition and enhance US security.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial..._policy?mode=PF

ANTI-U.S. ATTACK VIDEOS SPREAD ON THE INTERNET - EDWARD WYATT (NEW YORK TIMES, OCTOBER 5): Videos showing insurgent attacks against American troops in Iraq, long available in Baghdad shops and on Jihadist Web sites, have steadily migrated in recent months to popular Internet video-sharing sites, including YouTube and Google Video.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/06/technolo...agewanted=print

FOR SALE: IRAQI KURDISTAN -- A STRANGE PR CHOICE FOR THE "OTHER IRAQ" - DIANE FARSETTA (COUNTERPUNCH, OCTOBER 4): The strange pairing of the Republican-associated Sacramento public relations firm Russo Marsh & Rogers (RM&R) and the Kurdish Development Corporation -- which aims "to promote, facilitate and establish business and investment opportunities in the Kurdistan Region in Iraq" -- can be explained in one of three ways: either the Iraqi Kurds don't realize RM&R's area of experience, or RM&R is branching out into new areas, or the Kurds believe that ties with U.S. conservative politicians will best facilitate foreign investment in their homeland.
http://www.counterpunch.org/farsetta10042006.html

MILITARY HONES A NEW STRATEGY ON INSURGENCY - MICHAEL R. GORDON (NEW YORK TIMES, OCTOBER 5): The United States Army and Marines are finishing work on a new counterinsurgency doctrine that draws on the hard-learned lessons from Iraq and makes the welfare and protection of civilians a bedrock element of military strategy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/washingt...agewanted=print

HOW AL QAEDA VIEWS A LONG IRAQ WAR: A LETTER FROM AL QAEDA LEADERS FOUND IN IRAQ SHOWS THAT THE GROUP SEES THE WAR AS A BOON FOR ITS CAUSE - DAN MURPHY (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, OCTOBER 6)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1006/p01s04-woiq.html

ON EVERY LEVEL, THE IRAQ WAR IS HURTING AMERICA: BUSH'S FOLLY IN IRAQ IS TAXING US ARMED FORCES, THE ECONOMY, AND DEMOCRACY - PAT M. HOLT (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, OCTOBER 5)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1005/p09s02-coop.html

RUMSFELD OUT? - HARLAN ULLMAN (WASHINGTON TIMES, OCTOBER 6): Mr. Rumsfeld's departure will not produce better outcomes in Iraq and Afghanistan unless presidential policy changes first.
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...05-095252-4231r

WAR OR RUMORS OF WAR? - FRIDA BERRIGAN (FOREIGN POLICY IN FOCUS, OCTOBER 5/COMMON DREAMS): As retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner observes, the Bush administration didn't apply the "making sense" filter over the past four years in Iraq. It is therefore unlikely to use common sense in evaluating whether to attack Iran.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1005-23.htm

JORDAN IS MAKING REALLY GREAT STRIDES - MARC LYNCH (ABU AARDVACK, OCTOBER 4): Whether or not it is justified by Jordan's political situation, the overall trend towards a more repressive, less liberal political system is pretty clear.
http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark...n_is_makin.html

LEBANON'S COMBUSTIBLE MIX EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON TIMES, OCTOBER 6): The jihadist forces with a vested interest in preventing Lebanon from governing itself and living in peace with its neighbors remain a clear and present danger.
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...05-095251-4229r

THE WAR AGAINST ISLAMIC EXTREMISM - EVELYN GORDON (JERUSALEM POST, OCTOBER 4): A survey conducted last month by the Washington-based Israel Project, which polled both the elites and the general public in Germany, Britain and France, found that a growing proportion, particularly in Germany, now views Islamic extremism, rather than Israel's policies, as the cause of the Middle East's problems.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid...ticle%2FPrinter

CHARTING A PATH IN THE MIDEAST - SAMUEL LEWIS AND EDWARD S. WALKER (BOSTON GLOBE, OCTOBER 5): Five steps the United States should take that would have significant, positive impact in the region and on US foreign policy: mediate a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire; focus on what the Palestinian government does and not what it says; work with the Saudi initiative; engage Syria; strengthen Lebanon's government.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...mideast?mode=PF

RICE FOCUSES ON SMALL STEPS TO MIDEAST PEACE: THE TOP U.S. DIPLOMAT SEEKS TO SECURE DEALS ON OPENING TRANSIT POINTS, FORTIFYING PALESTINIAN SECURITY AGENCIES AND BOOSTING ESSENTIAL AID - PAUL RICHTER AND KEN ELLINGWOOD (LOS ANGELES TIMES, OCTOBER 5)
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...1,6841375.story

CONDI RICE TRIES TO LOOK BUSY: SHE'S IN THE MIDEAST TO TRY TO BOLSTER ARAB MODERATES AND REVIVE THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEACE PROCESS. IS THIS TRIP WORTH IT? - TONY KARON (TIME, OCTOBER 4): The current Israeli government has nothing to offer Arab moderates. Nor, for that matter, does Condi Rice.
http://www.time.com/time/world/printout/0,...1542699,00.html

FRIED, RICE RETURNS TO MIDDLE EAST - EDWARD M. GOMEZ (WORLD VIEW, SF GATE, OCTOBER 5): As one of the most highly visible representatives -- and memorable symbols -- of George W. Bush's foreign policy failures around the world, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice now carries a lot of unfortunate baggage with her wherever she goes. This week, her boss has sent Rice back to the Middle East, ostensibly to help restart the now-dead peace process, which Team Bush consistently has ignored.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/det...5&entry_id=9524

MIDDLE EASTERN 'STRATEGIC CONSENSUS' REDUX? JIM LOBE (ANTIWAR.COM, OCTOBER 5): President George W. Bush and his peripatetic secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, may believe that they have broken with 60 years of U.S. policy in order to "transform" the Middle East, but to longtime regional observers, their latest initiatives look painfully familiar.
http://www.antiwar.com/lobe/?articleid=9797

KIM'S MESSAGE: WAR IS COMING TO US SOIL - KIM MYONG CHOL (ASIA TIMES, OCTOBER 6): Unlike all the previous wars Korea fought, a next war will be better called the American War or the DPRK-US War because the main theater will be the continental US, with major cities transformed into towering infernos. (Kim Myong Chol is "Unofficial" spokesman of Kim Jong-il and North Korea.)
http://atimes.com/atimes/Korea/HJ06Dg01.html

IN KIM'S NEIGHBORHOOD - REVIEW & OUTLOOK (WALL STREET JOURNAL, OCTOBER 6): Kim Jong Il's nuclear saber rattling may have an unintended consequence: uniting his neighbors. That's bad news for Pyongyang, but good news for North Asia.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1160085018...ain_europe_asia
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

BEHIND NORTH KOREA'S LATEST NUCLEAR GAMBLE - WILLIAM M. ARKIN (WASHINGTONPOST.COM, OCTOBER 5): At a time when North Korea has announced its intention to conduct a nuclear test, U.S. intelligence believes the country is its weakest ever militarily, and quietly draws up contingency plans to deal with a "post Kim Jong Il" state.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarnin...latest_nuc.html