The article concerns a 60-second video which has been broadcast in the Middle East and which is said to be part of a campaign against terrorism. Please watch the ad here if you haven't seen it already (or maybe even if you have); then read what Anna Johnson wrote about it, and how her piece has been edited...
International Herald Tribune
Backers are shadowy but message is clear in graphic TV ad against terrorism
Here is the original, published October 10, 2006. I've taken the liberty of numbering the paragraphs.
[1] CAIRO, Egypt A TV commercial aimed at thwarting terrorism has hit Middle Eastern TV networks using high-tech effects to show the anatomy of a suicide bombing in graphic detail.I noticed that the IHT didn't credit an author.
[2] The US$1 million (€800,000) ad is packed with special effects including the time-suspension technique made popular in the "Matrix" movies to show bodies, cars and broken glass flying in slow motion through the air.
[3] Its sleekness, and the secrecy surrounding its creators and backers, lead some to believe the U.S. government is behind it in its effort to woo would-be terrorists away from violence and encourage moderates to take a forthright stand against extremism.
[4] The U.S. government refuses to say clearly whether it's involved in the commercial, which began airing this summer on Al-Arabiya, Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. and several Iraqi channels at a time when violence was raging in Baghdad and between Hezbollah and Israel.
[5] Issandr El Amrani of Cairo, who produces a blog, The Arabist, says the ad's concept is positive, but he's unsure that the would-be terrorists will watch, much less listen.
[6] The 60-second ad opens with a young boy seeing a man walk by in a crowded market. The man stops and exposes yellow explosives strapped to his body. The boy sees the bombs just before they go off, sending cars flying and people crashing through the windows of a cafe.
[7] The ad then shows the aftermath: wreckage, weeping and fires. It ends with the words "Terrorism has no religion" in Arabic.
[8] A Los Angeles warehouse district filled with 200 cast members stood in for the market during the ad's filming earlier this year, according to a statement by California-based 900 Frames, which helped produce the commercial.
[9] The ad is on a Web site — http://www.noterror.info — where viewers can see it and read Quranic verses deploring violence.
[10] But details about who made the ads are scant. Questions to the e-mail address — the site's only contact information — elicit a standardized response.
[11] A press release issued before the suicide bombing ad's filming said the project was funded privately by independent, non-governmental scholars, business people and activists living in Iraq and abroad — but did not elaborate.
[12] During the filming, 900 Frames said that the group behind it, the Future Iraq Assembly, wanted to remain anonymous.
[13] The group, which also is behind a series other of Iraq-specific ads, describes itself on http://www.futureiraq.org as "an independent, non-governmental organization, comprised of a number of scholars, businesspersons, and activists." The Assembly's site gave an e-mail address but did not respond.
[14] The publicist who worked with 900 Frames in May said the studio would not comment to The Associated Press.
[15] Spokesmen for the U.S. State Department and Department of Defense said they could not find any information that their agencies were connected to the ad, but neither would rule out some government involvement.
[16] The U.S. government has, however, had a hand in other public relations campaigns in the Mideast, including Arabic-language, U.S.-financed Radio Sawa and the Al-Hurra TV station.
[17] Under another, controversial U.S. program made public last year, the U.S. military paid Iraqi newspapers for stories favorable to coalition forces.
[18] The Pentagon's Joint Psychological Operations Support Element — overseen by the U.S. Special Operations Command — last year awarded a multimillion dollar contract to three companies to create "multimedia products" to counter extremist ideology.
[19] The Pentagon opted this summer to drop two of the contractors — California-based Science Applications International Corp. and Washington, D.C.-based Lincoln Group — from the contract. Neither would comment.
[20] A spokeswoman for the parent company of the remaining contractor, Virginia-based SYColeman, said the company was not affiliated with http://www.noterror.info.
[21] And Col. Samuel Taylor, a spokesman for the U.S. Special Operations Command, said the command also had "no role in any contracts that resulted" in the commercial.
[22] Lawrence Pintak, the director of the Adham Center for Electronic Journalism at the American University in Cairo, thinks the commercial is unlikely to have much influence on young Arabs.
[23] "When this kind of advertisement is sandwiched between footage of Lebanon and Iraq, it's going to fall on deaf ears," Pintak said.
[24] Others may not take the ad seriously because it doesn't explain what motivates the terrorism, said Raed Jarrar, an Iraqi-Palestinian who writes the blog Raed in the Middle and currently lives in the United States.
[25] "Dealing with suicide bombers is way more complicated and is usually linked to fundamentalist religious beliefs that have political implications," Jarrar said. "Portraying it as a looney tune who goes into a market to kill civilians — I don't know if this will work."
[26] Pintak also worries that the commercial looks too American.
[27] "It just raises so many red flags," he said. "The assumption is it has to be made by the Americans or the Saudis."
[28] Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, found the ad polished and direct, but said it would be a mistake if the U.S. government was behind it.
[29] The U.S. shouldn't use religion to fight terrorism, he said in an e-mail. "That is something for Muslims to do."
___
[30] On the Net:
http://www.noterror.info
http://www.futureiraq.org
The Toronto Star
Anti-terror ad hits Mideast networks
credited AP writer Anna Johnson, and ran the article intact (paragraphs 1-29), with live links.
The Seattle Times
War on terror's many fronts include television commercials
again, ran the entire whole article, with live links.
Toronto's Globe And Mail
Graphic TV spot aims at Mideast
ran all 29 paragraphs, but didn't link to the websites mentioned in the article. It did publish the URLs, however.
Kentucky's Lexington Herald-Leader
Ad's goal to prevent suicide blasts
ran paragraphs 1-18.
Olympia, Washington's The Olympian
Anti-terror TV ads send clear message
ran only paragraphs 1-7, and 9.
Toronto Star
TV ad aimed at would-be bombers
October 12, paragraphs 1-8 and 12-14. This version left out the sleekness mentioned in paragraph 3, saying
The secrecy surrounding its creators and backers, lead some to believe the U.S. government is behind it in its effort to woo would-be terrorists away from violence and encourage moderates to take a stand.rather than the original
[3] Its sleekness, and the secrecy surrounding its creators and backers, lead some to believe the U.S. government is behind it in its effort to woo would-be terrorists away from violence and encourage moderates to take a forthright stand against extremism.
Houston Chronicle
TV ad uses graphic images to discourage suicide attacks
ran paragraphs 1-19, 22 and 23, and changed a number of paragraphs, apparently to reduce clarity.
For instance, the final sentence in paragraph 13 was changed to
The Assembly's site gave an e-mail address from which there was no respond.from the original
The Assembly's site gave an e-mail address but did not respond.The Houston Chronicle also added a few minor headings:
Effectiveness unclearbefore paragraph 4,
Details hard to findbefore paragraph 9, and
Public relations effortsbefore paragraph 15.
Chicago Tribune
Ad aims to defuse suicide bombers
ran paragraphs 1-13, 15, 16, 18, 22 and 23.
and changed two paragraphs to remove all references to websites.
paragraph 9 reads
The ad is on a Web site where viewers can see it and read Koranic verses deploring violence.rather than the original
[9] The ad is on a Web site — http://www.noterror.info — where viewers can see it and read Quranic verses deploring violence.and paragraph 13 reads
The group, which also is behind a series of other Iraq-specific ads, describes itself on its Web site as "an independent, non-governmental organization, comprised of a number of scholars, businesspersons and activists." The group's site gave an e-mail address but did not respond.instead of the original
[13] The group, which also is behind a series other of Iraq-specific ads, describes itself on http://www.futureiraq.org as "an independent, non-governmental organization, comprised of a number of scholars, businesspersons, and activists." The Assembly's site gave an e-mail address but did not respond.
This Is London dot Co dot UK
Graphic anti-terrorism advert launched in the Middle East
ran an unattributed piece which seems to draw heavily on Anna Johnson's reporting without crediting her (or AP) (or anyone) and without providing any new information:
A shocking television commercial showing bodies exploding during a suicide bombing has been screened across the Middle East in a bid to prevent terrorism.
The £800,000 advert shows people, cars and broken glass flying in slow motion through the air.
Packed with special effects, the graphic commercial uses the time-suspension technique made popular in the Hollywood film Matrix.
The 60-second clip opens with a young boy watching a man walk through a crowded market.
The man stops and exposes yellow explosives strapped to his body.
He detonates the bomb seconds later, sending cars flying and people crashing through the windows of a cafe.
The advert then shows victims weeping amid the fires and wreckage, before ending with the words "Terrorism has no religion" in Arabic.
The identity of the commercial's backers is shrouded in secrecy, prompting speculation that the US Government is attempting to deter potential terrorists away from violence.
The Amercian Government has refused to clarify whether it is linked to the commercial, which hit television screens this summer on Al-Arabiya, Lebanese Broadcasting Corp and several Iraqi channels.
Filming for the advert took place in a Los Angeles warehouse district earlier this year, according to California-based 900 Frames, which helped produce the commercial.
Its intention is to deter Islamic extremists from terrorising Israel and the West, but critics believe the clip will not have the desired impact on young Arabs.
Lawrence Pintak, the director of the Adham Center for Electronic Journalism at the American University in Cairo, said: "When this kind of advertisement is sandwiched between footage of Lebanon and Iraq, it's going to fall on deaf ears."
Blogger Raed Jarrar, an Iraqi-Palestinian who currently lives in the United States, is equally sceptical.
"Dealing with suicide bombers is way more complicated and is usually linked to fundamentalist religious beliefs that have political implications," he said.
"Portraying it as a loony tune who goes into a market to kill civilians - I don't know if this will work.
"The assumption is it has to be made by the Americans or the Saudis."
Florida's St. Petersburg Times
Mysterious antiterror ad airs
ran paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4, 22, 23, and then a mangled montage of paragraphs 24, 26, and 27, which wound up attributing a quote to the wrong person. Compare this from St. Petersburg:
Raed Jarrar, an Iraqi-Palestinian blogger living in the United States, says it looks too American.with the original paragraphs 24, 26 and 27:
"It just raises so many red flags," he said. "The assumption is it has to be made by the Americans or the Saudis."
[24] Others may not take the ad seriously because it doesn't explain what motivates the terrorism, said Raed Jarrar, an Iraqi-Palestinian who writes the blog Raed in the Middle and currently lives in the United States.Who said it looks too American?
[26] Pintak also worries that the commercial looks too American.
[27] "It just raises so many red flags," he said. "The assumption is it has to be made by the Americans or the Saudis."
There are probably millions of people who have said that!
Now for the trick question: Did you notice what they left out?
The article mentioned two bloggers without actually linking to them.
Why not? Probably because the two bloggers in question are telling the truth in striking ways.
Raed In The Middle
Raed In The Middle is talking about things like this:
It is kind of ironic to watch arch enemies al-qaeda, the bush administration, and the Iranian government work together in the same bunker to divide Iraq.
There are a lot of rumors (and facts) about a coup de d'etat happening soon in Iraq. One washington post article written by David Ignatius (oct. 13th) mentioned the effort of some Iraqi leaders to form a "national salvation government". The Natioanl Dialogue Front (NDF), led by Al-Mutlaq, seems to be taking a leading role in this effort. Many Iraqis are expecting the fall of this current Iraqi government soon.
While bush and his few supporters (less than one third of the US population) are pushing to "stay the course" in Iraq, the official number of coalition soldiers killed in Iraq reached to 3,000 today, and the official number of US NON-MORTAL CASUALTIES in Iraq is aproaching 45,000. This number is still very low comparing to the 185,000 US veterans (nearly one in five soldiers leaving the military after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan) who have been at least partly disabled as a result of service, according to documents of the Department of Veterans Affairs obtained by a Washington research group.
The same administration that caused the death of and injury of tens of thousands of Americans in Iraq caused the death of more than 600,000 Iraqis according to the latest study published in the Lancet. This number suggests that other millions of Iraqis were injured as well because of the post-occupation violence.
The Arabist
Meanwhile, The Arabist has a wonderful piece of serious humor near the top of the home page.
As Homer Simpson says, it’s funny because it’s true:As I may have mentioned once, or maybe even twice: Sometimes it's not what they tell you that counts, but what they don't tell you.The Football Rules of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict
RULE 1: Israel has the right to play on both sides of the field, but the Palestinians can only play in their own half.
RULE 2: During the match, Israel has the right to build a wall anywhere across the field to enforce the above rule.
RULE 3: Should the referee ever whistle a foul against Israel he shall promptly be denounced as an anti-Semite.
RULE 4: The Palestinians are encouraged to shoot into their own goal. Players who refuse will be nominated as terrorists and will not be allowed to play.
RULE 5: For security reasons, Palestinians do not have the right to pass the ball to each other.
RULE 6: Israel can occupy any empty space on the field by bringing in a new player.
RULE 7: All Israeli goals are valid. Even those scored during the half-time break.
RULE 8: The Palestinians will only receive their sponsorship money if they agree to let Israel win.
RULE 9: The Palestinians can only play in flip-flops.
RULE 10: There will be no goal post on the Israeli side.
Via 7adaara. Thanks, SP.