Rumsfeld complains U.S. losing war to al Qaeda

Rummy is right. We are losing the propaganda war to al Qaeda. But not for the reasons he thinks. In this BBC article he is reported as saying:

The US is losing the propaganda war against al-Qaeda and other enemies, defence chief Donald Rumsfeld has said it must modernise its methods to win the minds of Muslims in the "war on terror", as "enemies had skilfully adapted" to the media age, he said.

Washington and the army must respond faster to events and learn to exploit the internet and satellite TV, he said.

The problem is that al Qaeda is promising to offer a better and more religious life to Muslims, and then backing its promises up with the actions of dedicated Muslims. Extremist Muslims, yes. But real Muslims who are living the life they claim they are working and fighting for.

The Bush administration, however, offers what are clearly nothing but hollow promises. They claim to be working for democracy and free elections, then behind the scenes are seen to be manipulating the structure of the government of Iraq and the elections themselves to prevent real democracy.

Who do you trust? Those who promise actions and then undertake them, or those who offer pie-in-the sky and don't deliver?

While promising democracy, the Bush administration is opposed to effective methods of ensuring human rights. That is the lesson from the practice of rendition, Guantanamo and abu Ghraib. The Bush administration position on using torture when it wants to, and using rendition when the forms of torture that are too extreme to pass American muster appear to be needed are well known. The 500 prisoners at Guantanamo who are held with no rights whatsoever are a festering sore on the reputation of America.

It doesn't help at all that the entire world knows that Bush stole the election for President in 2000, and with the help of Diebold and the Secretary of State in Ohio probably stole the Presidential election of 2004. The Bush administration is seen as not being a legitimate government by many people world-wide.

How do you modernize media methods and exploit the internet and satellite TV to provide a positive message when the reality that you are attempting to cover up is so patently anti-humanitarian? The problem Rumsfeld and the Bush administration has is not the inability to use the modern forms of communication to provide a positive public relations message. It is the fact that the basic truths of the Bush administration are so entirely opposite of the message the audiences they are trying to convince really want to see. Al Qaeda is winning the propaganda war because it is more attractive to many Muslims than the Bush administration, not because Americans aren't using the most modern techniques to get their message out.

Propaganda works best when it is clearly in synch with the underlying truths of the government using it. The Bush administration is in synch with Dick Cheney and his compadre Don Rumsfeld, and Cheny and Rumsfeld are not a people very many people in the world want to have anything to do with.

Rummy is right. We are losing the propaganda war. But we are not losing because we can't properly use the modern technology. We are losing because of the feudal attitudes held by Cheney and Rumsfeld, and the total inability of George W. Bush to recognize and effect the actions those two are directing.

If Rummy really wants to win the propaganda war with al Qaeda, his first step will be to close down the prison at Guantanamo. His second will be to start prosecuting senior military commanders who encouraged the abu Ghraib tortures or let them get out of hand.

We won't see that happen. Cheney, Rumsfeld and the NeoCons simply can't recognize what went wrong.