{"id":1604,"date":"2010-12-08T18:29:53","date_gmt":"2010-12-08T14:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=1604"},"modified":"2011-05-03T08:37:56","modified_gmt":"2011-05-03T04:37:56","slug":"meet-al-quaedas-nemesis-david-letterman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/showcase\/meet-al-quaedas-nemesis-david-letterman\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Al Qaeda’s Greatest Nemesis – David Letterman!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A secret platoon is fighting the American\u2019s so-called \u2018War on Terror\u2019 in Saudi Arabia.\u00a0 Every day they reach all corners of the Kingdom and do battle with Al Qaeda\u2019s recruiting sergeants.\u00a0 And they\u2019re winning.<\/p>\n

But now, in common with many others, their cover has been blown by Wikileaks.\u00a0 Step forward David Letterman, Al Pacino, George Clooney and the cast of \u2018Desperate Housewives\u2019. Are these to be Osama bin Laden\u2019s true nemesis?<\/p>\n

According to a secret cable titled \u2018David Letterman: Agent of Influence\u2019 the shows and movies that feature on MBC\u2019s various channels have been much more effective than the traditional propaganda offered by Al Hurra in helping the U.S to win the \u2018war of ideas\u2019.<\/p>\n

Gibbon, the author of the great (and surprisingly relevant) \u2018Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire\u2019 remarked that the Romans could gauge the success of their colonial adventures by the desire of the locals to wear a toga, the traditional garb of the Roman citizen. \u00a0 In a telling comment\u00a0 within the cable a senior al-Arabiya news channel director told the U.S diplomat: \u201c\u2026this programming is very popular in remote, conservative corners of the country where he said \u2018you no longer see Bedouins but kids in Western dress who are now interested in the outside world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Certain themes in American movies appear to resonate strongly with Saudis, according to the diplomats: heroic honesty in the face of corruption (that\u2019s George Clooney in Michael Clayton), supportive behaviour in relationships (a low budget drama featuring an American husband dealing with a drunk wife who smashes cars and crockery when she isn\u2019t assaulting him and their child), and respect for the law over self-interest (Al Pacino and Robin Williams in Insomnia).<\/p>\n

One obviously needs to be careful about extrapolating too much from the views of a few diplomats but although initially startling, the comments are, on reflection, hardly surprising.\u00a0 Joseph Stalin, who knew a thing or two about the projection of power, once famously remarked that if he could gain control of Hollywood for a day he could take over the world.<\/p>\n

Since reading this report a scene from a yet-to-be-made blockbuster movie has been playing in my head.\u00a0 It\u2019s September 12th 2001. The Pentagon.\u00a0 Generals, Secretaries of State, Experts Galore gathered round an enormous table. The question is: \u2018How do we win this?\u2019\u00a0 Round the table it goes. Same answers \u2013 \u2018Afghanistan\u2019, \u2018Saddam Hussein\u2019, \u2018bin Laden in the cave\u2019 until a youthful voice pops up from behind the \u2018grey heads\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018Excuse me but I think we\u2019re overlooking something.\u2019 The assembled room, startled, turns as one to face down the interloper. \u2018Yes, young man,\u2019 says a be-decorated general. \u2018You have something to say?\u2019\u00a0 A clearing of the throat:<\/p>\n

\u2018 Ross, Chandler, Phoebe, Monica, Joey, Rachel. If we want to make friends, we\u2019ve got to give \u2018em \u2018Friends\u2019.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure it\u2019d be a winner on MBC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JAMES MULLAN – American propaganda efforts in their so-called ‘War on Terror’ have been superseded by Hollywood. Are we surprised? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,83,60],"tags":[24,3007,169,168,583,1389,3008,18275,18302,147],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1604"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}