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9/11 Was a PR Stunt, the Beginning of an Image War [Dutch article translation by Google]
(NRC Dutch newspaper) – Publicity is half the battle, was the mantra of Osama bin Laden. Like no other, he understood that a war has to be fought on the air waves. The Arab television station Al Jazeera in a documentary shows how the propaganda battle over the last ten years has been led.
The Image War, is the telling title. An image of war that neither America Al Qaeda won. A war that was based on two pillars: the spread of ideology and the discrediting of the enemy. Goal: winning the hearts and minds. Reward: accretion of forces. U.S. soldiers, Al Qaeda terrorists.
Were Al Qaeda and America evenly matched? Certainly not, says Michael Scheuer, a former CIA chief charged with the investigation of bin Laden. “Their propaganda knocked us over and over again. We did not play even in the same division.”
Al Qaeda had experience. During the Soviet invasion in the eighties, the mujahideen spread magazines, videotapes, photographs and audio. In this way, the people of Afghanistan shared victories and were encouraged to jihad. Almost every household had a CD of the Islamic resistance.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
