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Thursday, May 04, 2006
Who's the one bumbling here?
This afternoon the NYT published an article discussing video out-takes released by the Americans in Iraq that shows a bumbling Zarqawi. (And I can already envision the send-up being crafted as we speak on the Daily Show and SNL; where's Chevy Chase's Gerald Ford when we need him?)
As the authors of the article point out, through "the release of the out-takes today the American military sought to send a very different message [from the macho image projected in last week's video released by Zarqawi]: That Mr. Zarqawi is a poseur who can't even fire a basic infantry weapon and walks around in comfortable shoes." And indeed, the fact that Zarqawi is flummoxed by the intricacies of how to handle a machine gun or that he too shares my love of New Balance sneakers does suggest that Zarqawi might be a poseur. So, at first, I thought it was quite funny.
But further reflection makes me think the American military propaganda effort backfires, no? After all, this putative poseur has eluded American capture for some years now. General Lynch, the American official who released the out-takes, noted: "We have a warrior leader, Zarqawi, who doesn't understand how to operate his weapons system and has to rely on his subordinates to clear a weapons stoppage. It makes you wonder."
Yes, General Lynch I do wonder. But here's what I'm wondering: how come we're losing so many American and Iraqi lives to this alleged warrior-buffoon? I fear that the joke's on us. And it's not that funny.
Posted by Dan Markel on May 4, 2006 at 06:08 PM in Current Affairs | Permalink
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Comments
Very well said. The Times article provides a related but slightly different explanation:
"Moreover, some analysts believe the attention paid to Mr. Zarqawi by the American military has always been a bit of red herring. In this view, describing the Jordanian as the mastermind of terrorism here is easier than it would be to admit that much of the most violent and bloody mayhem is committed not by foreign jihadists but by native-born Sunni Arabs — who will always find support and shelter in the cities and villages that wind west into Anbar Province along the Euphrates."
So, this is a classic Bush administration double head fake--focusing on the irony here just re-enforces their meme in another way.
Posted by: Bart Motes | May 4, 2006 7:41:26 PM
I'm not sure I understand. Releasing the video doesn't make Zarqawi any less captured, so I don't know how releasing the video somehow is an effort that "backfires." Is the thinking that focusing on him brings attention to him and the fact that he hasn't been captured? If that's the argument, that might be right: At the same time, I gather that is alwauys true in war that your opponent has not been captured.
Posted by: Ungerton | May 4, 2006 10:03:51 PM
I wonder if Ungerton is an honest representative of the 32% / "the backwash," or a cunning Bush operative. Strategic density!
Posted by: Bart Motes | May 4, 2006 11:35:06 PM
I'm not sure ridicule is transitive as you suggest.
I mean, it's a commonplace that Bush is a moron, and yet Bush won 2 elections. What are we to make of his political opponents? Not that they're bigger morons.
Posted by: Thomas | May 5, 2006 12:20:33 AM
Bart,
Actually, I'm just a random person who doesn't like Bush. At the same time, I think an argument can be unpersuasive even if it is critical of him.
Posted by: Ungerton | May 5, 2006 12:57:58 AM
Does it occur to no one that this "captured" film may be as phoney
as such other classic of propaganda like Hitler's jig in Paris
and the poor seagulls dying because of Saddam's gooey oil, or the
gun sight photos which show only perfect on target rounds? Given the
state of the art in cinematic technique, the financial resource available
to American propagandists, the recent comments about the Zarqawi psy-op
operation and the clear advantages for the war party of such "lucky"
finds such doubts seem not only justified, but rather obligatory.
Posted by: Hannah K. O'Luthon | May 5, 2006 5:55:25 AM
Zarqawi does look like, and may well be, a bumbling poseur. It's too bad the machine gun didn't explode in his hands and blow his evil head off. That would have been good comedy.
The Iraqis purportedly had him in custody and let him go because they didn't recognize him. Now that is bumbling on a grand scale.
Posted by: Pug | May 5, 2006 9:01:53 AM
Sorry Ungerton, late night frazzled rebuttal.
Posted by: Bart Motes | May 5, 2006 1:44:54 PM
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