Thought this was interesting:
“The Great Satan� on Devastated Arab Streets
A largely unreported story of goodwill.
The contrast could not have been clearer. The very day President G.W. Bush reached out to Democrat Bill Clinton and recruited his father, Republican G. H. W. Bush, to generate private tsunami-relief donations, Osama bin Laden's comrades detonated three car bombs in Baghdad, killing 16 Iraqi cops and soldiers toiling to rebuild their country. Once again, "the Great Satan" rescues endangered Muslims while Islamic zealots blew their co-religionists to bits. As the south Asian recovery unfolds, American public diplomacy should highlight this comparison to Muslims worldwide.
Countless Muslims were battered on "Black Sunday." Indonesia, Earth's most populous Islamic nation, was lashed hardest with 94,200 fatalities by Wednesday. Sri Lanka and India, both with significant Muslim minorities, have lost 30,240 and 9,675 people so far. Largely spared on December 26, an increasingly violent Muslim citizenry lives in southern Thailand, a country that has lost 5,288. Astonishingly, in Somalia and Tanzania — five air hours northwest of the massive Indonesian earthquake that triggered this emergency — the tsunami respectively killed 200 and 10 among their largely Muslim populations.
These and other nations have begun to see America's $350 million in government relief. At least $190 million in private assistance is en route, from multimillion-dollar corporate contributions to double-digit sums gleaned from piggy banks and church-collection plates. Catholic Relief Services witnessed such an outpouring of on-line gifts that its overwhelmed webpage crashed for 36 hours.
At an estimated $4 million daily, the Pentagon has mobilized Operation Unified Assistance, its largest Asian military operation since Saigon fell to Communism. By Wednesday, 13,435 U.S. GIs had used 21 vessels, 41 airplanes, and 50 helicopters to deliver 305 tons of supplies. U.S. warships desalinate water for the parched. There is much more help on the way.
All this from a nation that our Islamofascist enemies claim is committed to vanquishing their Muslim brethren.
America and the civilized world, the "infidels" in Islamofascism's crosshairs, are locked in a death match with this toxic ideology and its enthusiasts. Winning this struggle involves swaying rank-and-file Muslims around the world, many of whom call south Asia home. They and their Middle Eastern peers have eyes and ears attached to their hearts and minds. American press officers at embassies in Muslim nations should communicate this ongoing story via the Voice of America, local media outlets, public appearances, conversations with pedestrians on the Arab Street, and even advertising, where available.
cont....
OTB
“The Great Satan� on Devastated Arab Streets
A largely unreported story of goodwill.
The contrast could not have been clearer. The very day President G.W. Bush reached out to Democrat Bill Clinton and recruited his father, Republican G. H. W. Bush, to generate private tsunami-relief donations, Osama bin Laden's comrades detonated three car bombs in Baghdad, killing 16 Iraqi cops and soldiers toiling to rebuild their country. Once again, "the Great Satan" rescues endangered Muslims while Islamic zealots blew their co-religionists to bits. As the south Asian recovery unfolds, American public diplomacy should highlight this comparison to Muslims worldwide.
Countless Muslims were battered on "Black Sunday." Indonesia, Earth's most populous Islamic nation, was lashed hardest with 94,200 fatalities by Wednesday. Sri Lanka and India, both with significant Muslim minorities, have lost 30,240 and 9,675 people so far. Largely spared on December 26, an increasingly violent Muslim citizenry lives in southern Thailand, a country that has lost 5,288. Astonishingly, in Somalia and Tanzania — five air hours northwest of the massive Indonesian earthquake that triggered this emergency — the tsunami respectively killed 200 and 10 among their largely Muslim populations.
These and other nations have begun to see America's $350 million in government relief. At least $190 million in private assistance is en route, from multimillion-dollar corporate contributions to double-digit sums gleaned from piggy banks and church-collection plates. Catholic Relief Services witnessed such an outpouring of on-line gifts that its overwhelmed webpage crashed for 36 hours.
At an estimated $4 million daily, the Pentagon has mobilized Operation Unified Assistance, its largest Asian military operation since Saigon fell to Communism. By Wednesday, 13,435 U.S. GIs had used 21 vessels, 41 airplanes, and 50 helicopters to deliver 305 tons of supplies. U.S. warships desalinate water for the parched. There is much more help on the way.
All this from a nation that our Islamofascist enemies claim is committed to vanquishing their Muslim brethren.
America and the civilized world, the "infidels" in Islamofascism's crosshairs, are locked in a death match with this toxic ideology and its enthusiasts. Winning this struggle involves swaying rank-and-file Muslims around the world, many of whom call south Asia home. They and their Middle Eastern peers have eyes and ears attached to their hearts and minds. American press officers at embassies in Muslim nations should communicate this ongoing story via the Voice of America, local media outlets, public appearances, conversations with pedestrians on the Arab Street, and even advertising, where available.
cont....
OTB
