This week’s column: Rushdie, Danish cartoons, and Information Warfare (and a link to the cartoons)
The column is up at StrategyPage.
The Danish “Cartoon War” is an information warfare operation by conducted Islamist terror groups and at least two Middle Eastern dictatorships (Syria and Iran).
The discussion generated by this previous post provides relevant background for the column. (Including a discussion of Serrano’s and Marilyn Manson’s antics.) I started working on it Monday morning– specifically, I tried to find my copy of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. The column contains my opinion of the book. Rushdie thought he was in a literary or philosophical debate. The Ayatollah Khomeini, however, was at war.
The concluding paragraph, which states the context I think a lot of self-styled “civil libertarians” have missed:
I support the publication of the original cartoons, but I also know the figurative war of free expression in the West occurs in the midst of a real (non-figurative) and active global war against terror and tyranny. That’s why I also support combat operations which lead to free elections and, ultimately, liberation.
Also, StrategyPage has posted the Danish cartoons. The NY Press may not have the guts and class, but StrategyPage does. Congrats to the NY Press staff for walking out.
UPDATE: Michlle Malkin posts the fake cartoons I mention in my column. Also, visit the BBC site for more on the propaganda angle, specifically the “pig picture”.
The BBC originally “misreported” that the pig picture was an original cartoon. The BBC’s rather soft mea culpa: …”(The BBC was caught out and for a time showed film of this in Gaza without realizing it was not one of the 12). “
The BBC didn’t vet the cartoon and showed it in Gaza. Shades of Newsweek and the Koran-flushing story. Dark shades. Bad. Reprehensible. An inexcuseable editorial failure.
The BBC does correct itself–kudos. The BBC now reports (BBC world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds):
This picture, a fuzzy grey photocopy, can now be traced back (suspicion having been confirmed by an admission) to a delegation of Danish Muslim leaders who went to the Middle East in November to publicise the cartoons. The visit was organised by Abu Laban, a leading Muslim figure in Denmark.
According to the Danish paper Ekstra Bladet, the delegation took along a pamphlet showing the 12 drawings. But the delegation also showed a number of other pictures, including the “pig” one. The delegation claimed they were the sort of insults that Muslims in Denmark had to endure. These also got into circulation.
(Update: A reader has e-mailed to say that the original of the “pig” picture was from a “pig-squealing” competition held in France every summer. Some character dressed up like a pig. See the link to the neandernews.com site on the right for the details.
UPDATE 2: Froma Harrop suggests a political operation.
Want to end the violence? Want the proclaimed boycotts against Danish goods to go away? It’s simple. Launch a reverse boycott against the elites of the countries whose citizens are now taking out their ignorance, envy and self-pity on European institutions.
Tell the various strongmen, sheiks and clerics that they may no longer partake of the pleasures and comforts of the West, while inciting the masses at home. Henceforth, Saudi princes may not come to the great medical centers of Berlin or Boston to have their cancer treated. The militant mullahs can’t send their children to private schools in England. The men who cultivate anti-West paranoia among their impoverished masses may not own villas on the Cote d’Azur. And their wives may no longer shop on the Via Veneto.
The West could also ban direct imports. The European Union has already told Saudi Arabia that a boycott of Danish goods would be regarded as a boycott of the European Union…
Read the entire essay.
It seems ore and more apparent that the cartoon outage is another example of “pretext rioting.” Like Sharon’s appearance on the temple mount that sparked intifada II, I’m guessing that the cartoons are a pretext for planned mayhem. Why are Afghanis attacking ther own police and US bases over this? PRETEXT!
Comment by jake — 2/8/2006 @ 7:25 am
Hard to take a principled stand for freedom of the press when most offensive cartoons are frauds. However, in order to put these riots in proper context, I can’t see how a newspaper can report on the riots and not publish them, from a pure news perspective, not a solidarity perspective.
Comment by Rich — 2/8/2006 @ 8:30 am
Austin, The French publication Charlie Hebdo has just republished the cartoons .Its special edition (160,000) copies sold out. Le Monde , which refused to publish the original cartoons reproduced the cover of Charlie Hebdo on its web site after Chirac criticized that paper. The front page cartoon,an orignal creation, which is now on the web site of France’s leading paper, contains language I would not post on your blog. However, that language is repeated in the body of Le Monde’s story. I guess this is proof that intimidation rarely works.
Comment by Steve Albert — 2/8/2006 @ 8:36 am
Austin, The French publication Charlie Hebdo has just republished the cartoons .Its special edition (160,000) copies sold out. Le Monde , which refused to publish the original cartoons reproduced the cover of Charlie Hebdo on its web site after Chirac criticized that paper. The front page cartoon which is now on the web site of France’s leading paper, contains language I would not post on your blog. However, that language is repeated in the body of Le Monde’s story. I guess this is proof that intimidation rarely works.
Comment by Steve Albert — 2/8/2006 @ 8:40 am
Sorry for posting my comment twice. ED NOTE: Comments often take two to six hours to appear. Go to the search function and type in “Comments.” There are a couple of posts that explain why this occurs– they also give the site rules for comments.
Comment by Steve Albert — 2/8/2006 @ 8:57 am
[…] olitics, Middle East/Terrorism at 8:50 am by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton Courtesy of Austin Bay: The column is up at StrategyPage. The Danish “Cartoon War†is an information warfare operation […]
Pingback by NoisyRoom.net » This week’s column: Rushdie, Danish cartoons, and Information Warfare (and a link to the cartoons) — 2/8/2006 @ 10:50 am
[…] re. UPDATE: Austin Bay’s latest column is on the Cartoon Wars. And on his blog he observes: “The Danish ‘Cartoon War’ is an information warfare operation conducted by Islamist […]
Pingback by FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog » Muhammad Caricature Watch: President Bush and King Abdullah of Jordan Urge an End to Violence over Muhammad Caricatures — 2/8/2006 @ 12:13 pm
A Perilous Premise NYT-05: “Many religious and community leaders were convinced that Islam would manifest itself in its truest form in this country. Some even proclaimed that one day America would be an Islamic state.” In 1983, in a speech marking the dedication of an …
Trackback by All Things Beautiful — 2/8/2006 @ 1:41 pm
Information War. I have some questions aout modern InfoWar, but first let me just say that I’ve read your work over the past couple years (mainly through StrategyPage, which I love) and I’ve found it to be top-notch and educational. So, thanks. First, is InfoWar the same as PsyOps? Or is one more tactical than the other? When I think about InfoWar it gets really confusing real fast about where the boundaries are. It seems to me that the limiting factor in the Iraq War is US public opinion. The military’s job is to win wars, but what are they to do when the main front is morale at home? Directly trying to sway public opinion is considered bad, even though the military clearly tries to. At the same time war opponents constantly try to undermine US resolve. They honestly believe it’s a bad war and attack the weak point. NPR often does stories about dead or severely wounded troops and the loss and sadness left behind - the impression being that the sacrifice was a waste. I’ve never heard a story on NPR about heroism, glory, fighting skill, etc. That would be considered jingoistic. By any historical standard, the casualty rate is extremely low. It’s hard to imagine how it could get much lower actually (short of not fighting). But many, if not most, people I know think it’s been a military disaster. It’s one thing to say it’s not worth it, but to deny the obvious military success indicates they are using a framework divorced from any historical reality. Does the military try to counteract the anti-war media? Should they? It gets so murky. Our enemies have no compunction in using the media in InfoWar to undermine pulic support. It’s proper that the military stays out of civilian politics, but it’s a fuzzier line than civics class would have us believe. This same game is played in politics all the time, of course, with each side trying to frame issues and control the media landscape. I guess my question is: how much does or should the US military do to fight the InfoWar here in the US? Especially since it seems to me that US public resolve is the determinitive factor in the outcome of the Iraq War. thanks, Scott
Comment by Scott — 2/8/2006 @ 1:47 pm
Roundtable Discussion On The Cartoon Crisis Yesterday, Hugh Hewitt hosted a roundtable discussion on the Cartoon Intafada, involving himself, fellow radio talkshow hosts Michael Medved and Dennis Prager, and from Evangelical Outpost, Joe Carter. You can read a transcript, and/or listen online, h…
Trackback by Ed Driscoll.com — 2/8/2006 @ 4:12 pm
FIne, but Felmming Rose, the guy who created the cartoon contest, turnrs out to be a pal of Daniel Pipes of Campus Watch fame (as such, hardly a friend of free speech). The rioters are idiots, but only two groups stand to profit from this confligration: Al Qaeda and Pipes’ neocon cabal. Pope Benedict said today that free speech shouldn’t mean that we encourage giving offense to religious sensibilities. Offending those sensibilities was, however, Rose’s intent from the start.
Comment by skip — 2/8/2006 @ 5:24 pm
[…] us are in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars” … (Various) - AUSTIN BAY BLOG: “This week’s column: Rushdie, Danish cartoons, and Information Warfare (and a link to t […]
Pingback by CaNN :: We started it. — 2/8/2006 @ 5:33 pm
Intelligence Operation If Austin Bay is right, then Hugh Hewitt is wrong. And so are the self-styled “Warriors of Civilization.” The Wall Street Journal reports that, in order to inflame Arab opinion, the radical Danish clerics running this show had to make…
Trackback by View From a Height — 2/8/2006 @ 5:34 pm
Cartoon War I Austin Bay believes that the Danish Cartoon fracas is a a terrorist operation:In May 2005, Newsweek ran its phony Guantanamo prison Koran flushing story — a story designed to embarrass the Bush administration as well as sell copies of Newsweek.
Trackback by Brutally Honest — 2/8/2006 @ 7:26 pm
An OLD QUOTE THAT SHOULD BE RUNNING AROUND THE BLOG!!! US paper should print the cartoons and show we are a free press not just a Lib press!!!! “War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.” -John Stuart Mills
Comment by media blues — 2/8/2006 @ 11:49 pm
The Us should print the cartoons - show the world we have a free press not just a lib press. GREAT QUOTE PLEASE PASS IT ON “War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.” -John Stuart Mills
Comment by media blues — 2/8/2006 @ 11:53 pm
[…] : it makes sense, now that I think about it. The furor is, it seems, quite well organized. Austin Bay Blog » This week’s column: Rushdie, Danish cartoons, and Information Warfare (and a link to the cartoo […]
Pingback by Cartoon frenzy: new way of looking at it at white pebble — 2/9/2006 @ 5:30 am
Operation Iraqi Freedom, supporting the creation of a new, unprecedented Iraqi democracy, has been a huge success. But the media claim it’s a failure. I suggest the following argument: Kerry and the Dems ask “who wants to be the last person to die for a mistake?” — nobody. Nobody wants to be the last to die in Vietnam, or Korea, or Germany, or even at Gettysburg. So now the Dems think if anybody dies it’s a disaster. If one US soldier dies in Iraq, the Dems think it’s a disaster. When more than one US soldier died in Somalia, the Dems thought it was a disaster and ran away. In order to avoid any US soldiers dying in Rwanda, Pres. Clinton lied and said there was “no genocide.” In order to stop US soldiers dying in Vietnam, the Dems voted to cut funding, so the soldiers ran away — and let the commies win. And allowed genocide. “Who wants to die fighting evil?” Nobody — but unless we fight evil, evil will win. If we fight evil, we risk people dying. The real choices are hard: fighting evil or letting evil win. The Dems would rather let evil win then have any be “the last person to die” in fighting evil. The Dems seem to think 1) that Saddam shouldn’t been forcibly removed from power, and 2) if there’s war, not one American should die. The Dems seem to think this is a Hollywood war, where none of the good-guy main characters die. It’s ridiculous to believe this war, or any war, can be fought without casualties. (But Dems don’t say “no casualties”) Oh yeah? How many can there be be for it to be a Success? 5000? 1000? 500? 100? More than 100 soldiers every year just in training accidents. How many casualties do the Dems think would have died in a competent Iraq war?
Comment by Tom Grey - Liberty Dad — 2/9/2006 @ 5:38 am
#11 Skip, how on earth are Daniel Pipes and Campus Watch not a friend of free speech? They are merely an antidote to the islamo loving U.S./west bashing dhimmi professors on campuses in the U.S. who think that all the problems we’re having with the citizens therefrom have arisen solely from the imperialist west, rather than coming from a particular faith from the middle east.
Comment by Carol Mickle — 2/9/2006 @ 9:20 pm