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| India-Pakistan |
| Al-Qaeda steps up Waziristan propaganda campaign with DVDs |
| 2006-03-11 |
| Al-Qa'eda is flooding the unruly border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan with propaganda DVDs, in a media campaign designed to win recruits and sympathy. The films, sold for 40p each in local markets and distributed throughout Pakistan and across the Afghan frontier, depict Taliban forces attacking American, Pakistani and Afghan soldiers. Punishment killings and damage inflicted by American and Pakistani forces on both Islamic fighters and local civilians are also portrayed. To the alarm of the Pakistani authorities, the blood-soaked movies sell well in the hard-bitten North West Frontier Province, despite a police crackdown on their production and sale. "We have moved against any form of production that is against Pakistan or our allies," said a spokesman for the government of the semi-autonomous, and largely lawless, Tribal Areas. "Not only have we confiscated illegal films, but we have countered them with leaflets and messages broadcast through our three radio stations in the Tribal Areas". Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the region has become a refuge for local and foreign radical militants, believed to include Osama bin Laden and the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. Last week the Pakistani army temporarily lost control of Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan, to forces loyal to the Taliban and al-Qa'eda. It was the heaviest fighting witnessed since an operation in 2003 when the army entered the Tribal Areas at the behest of America. During the operation to re-establish control over Miran Shah, the army claimed it killed more than 100 militants, while civilian casualties are unknown. Despite the presence of 70,000 of its troops, the army has only managed to exert minimal control over the porous border region. The Miran Shah incident underlined fears that weak central government presence has enabled the free movement of militants, money, weapons and now propaganda in the region. Qari Amanullah, a DVD shopkeeper in the town, said: "These jihadi DVDs have made our businesses flourish. There is a great demand for such films because they are popular with all age groups. "Young boys used to watch movies, particularly Indian blockbusters, but now these DVDs have replaced movies and even young boys are going to be addicts. "The DVD showing the recent killing of bandits by the Taliban and then hanging their dead bodies from electricity pylons is the current top of the chart." He said that a DVD about Taliban fighters, The Young Eagles of High Mountains, is another hit with about 20,000 copies already sold. The films, mostly scripted in Urdu, Pashto and Arabic, are produced by two "production companies", Ummat Studios and Jundullah CD Centre. The films do not mention their contact details, but the Shawal and Mir Ali areas of Northern Waziristan - the latest battlefield for Pakistani troops - are believed to be the centre of production. Naeem Noor Khan, an al-Qa'eda computer expert, is said to have visited South Waziristan before his arrest in Lahore last July. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #6 I suppose we could use Coke cans ... and then let the industrious ones redeem them for a nickel a piece. |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-03-11 16:16 |
| #5 scene from the Gods Must Be Crazy - bombard them with empty coke bottles? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-03-11 16:12 |
| #4 Heh. I think that the cold at the launch elevation would cause them to shatter too easily to do real damage, but it's an interesting plan OP. ;-) |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-03-11 16:08 |
| #3 RE: CD propaganda: can we distribute 40 million CDs to Waziristan by C-5? The terminal velocity of one of those little monsters from 45,000 feet would cut halfway through the walls of their mud huts. Next earthquake, EVERYTHING would fall down. Then we could go in as "humanitarians" and clean up - both literally and figuratively. Who said God isn't on OUR side? He just needs a little help now and then. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2006-03-11 15:46 |
| #2 And what is the American Embassy doing? Huh? My god, from the country which developed landfills full of AOL coasters, Netflix, and other creative applications for CD/DVDs, you'd think we'd have 'Bill Gates' the market on free DVD with our message slickly tucked into a free Bollywood movie. Once again, the State Department is still in mid-20th Century. Someone send a note to Rummy to get SOCOM on the job. |
| Posted by: Whomorong Hupoluth2201 2006-03-11 09:36 |
| #1 DVD's? Kinda blows the image of poor starving pesants living in mud huts and scrounging in the fields for leftover grain, doesn't it? |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2006-03-11 08:51 |