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You are here: Home / Politics / War on Terror / War on Terror aka GSAVE® / The PR War

The PR War

by John Cole|  July 26, 200712:43 pm| 28 Comments

This post is in: War on Terror aka GSAVE®

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Brought to you by the military:

Accelerating the public relations battle over terrorism suspects held at Guantánamo Bay, a new study of detainees in 2004 and 2005 requested by the Pentagon argues that many were a proven threat to United States forces. They included fighters of Al Qaeda, veterans of terrorism training camps and men who had experience with explosives, sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, it said.

The report, by a terrorism study center at West Point, is essentially a rebuttal by the military of growing assertions by advocates for detainees that the American naval station at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, is filled with hapless innocents and low-level cooks and other support personnel who pose no real threat.

It paints a chilling portrait of the detainees, asserting that publicly available information indicates that 73 percent of them were a “demonstrated threat” to American or coalition forces. In all, it says, 95 percent were at the least a “potential threat,” including detainees who had played a supporting role in terrorist groups or had expressed a commitment to pursuing violent jihadist goals. The study is based on information from detainees’ hearings in 2004 and 2005.

The authors made clear that one of their goals was to affect public attitudes. They said the report should “enhance our collective understanding of the threats facing the United States, its allies and its interests and how we respond to them.”

Discuss.

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28Comments

  1. 1.

    solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short

    July 26, 2007 at 12:53 pm

    95% are a potential threat? Say, that IS chilling.

    I’m a potential rock god. If I had some friends in the Pentagon maybe I could get a little respect.

  2. 2.

    HelenaMontana

    July 26, 2007 at 12:55 pm

    Who believes a word that comes out of the Pentagon anymore?

  3. 3.

    Dreggas

    July 26, 2007 at 12:55 pm

    The authors made clear that one of their goals was to affect public attitudes. They said the report should “enhance our collective understanding of the threats facing the United States, its allies and its interests and how we respond to them.”

    The threats facing us are currently yucking it up in the tribal areas of pakistan while we give them more and more PR fodder. Then again it just goes to show this admin couldn’t win a PR war let alone a real one.

    As an aside I saw a bumpersticker on some asshats car yesterday that said “10 out of 10 terrorists agree, anyone but bush”. Given what the shithead has done that should read “10 out of 10 terrorists agree, give us more bush”.

  4. 4.

    Krista

    July 26, 2007 at 1:03 pm

    As a PR flack, I can tell you one thing: it’s a hell of a lot easier to prevent a PR disaster in the first place than it is to clean it up once it’s happened. They can throw as much Chanel No. 5 as they want on the stinking turd that is Guantanamo, but it’s never going to smell like anything but a stinking turd.

  5. 5.

    Rome Again

    July 26, 2007 at 1:11 pm

    As an aside I saw a bumpersticker on some asshats car yesterday that said “10 out of 10 terrorists agree, anyone but bush”. Given what the shithead has done that should read “10 out of 10 terrorists agree, give us more bush”.

    Cassidy was in your neighborhood?

  6. 6.

    ran

    July 26, 2007 at 1:11 pm

    Lies. All lies.

    The Pentagon, like the Shrub administration, has zero credibility.

  7. 7.

    Rome Again

    July 26, 2007 at 1:12 pm

    As a PR flack, I can tell you one thing: it’s a hell of a lot easier to prevent a PR disaster in the first place than it is to clean it up once it’s happened. They can throw as much Chanel No. 5 Obsession as they want on the stinking turd that is Guantanamo, but it’s never going to smell like anything but a stinking turd.

    Revised.

  8. 8.

    myiq2xu

    July 26, 2007 at 1:15 pm

    If they have evidence to prove these allegations, why not give the detainees trials, with full due process, and then (assuming the detainees are convicted) lock ’em up and throw away the keys?

    We convicted nazi spies (during a war) and war criminals without having to resort to secret prisons and star chamber prosecutions.

  9. 9.

    Dreggas

    July 26, 2007 at 1:16 pm

    Rome Again Says:

    As an aside I saw a bumpersticker on some asshats car yesterday that said “10 out of 10 terrorists agree, anyone but bush”. Given what the shithead has done that should read “10 out of 10 terrorists agree, give us more bush”.

    Cassidy was in your neighborhood?

    Lol, nah but the guy definitely looked like a tool. How fitting his truck with the bumpersticker was broke down so it had to be towed.

  10. 10.

    Cassidy

    July 26, 2007 at 1:18 pm

    Cassidy was in your neighborhood?

    Lol…you have no idea who I plan to vote for. And I don’t put bumper stickers on my care…hurts the resale.

    The best part is that you’re so narrow-minded in your outlook that you closely resempble your neo-con POTUS. You and Bush…no difference.

  11. 11.

    Tim in SF

    July 26, 2007 at 1:19 pm

    Are these the same military folks who were so forthcoming regarding Pat Tillman?

  12. 12.

    Cassidy

    July 26, 2007 at 1:21 pm

    My biggest issue is the classification as EPW’s. That places them in the same category as Soldiers and that’s not the case. I would prefer to see terrorist prosecuted as criminals. So if the evidence is thier, they should be tried as such. If that doesn’t work, we can always ship them to Egypt.

  13. 13.

    Rome Again

    July 26, 2007 at 1:25 pm

    The best part is that you’re so narrow-minded in your outlook that you closely resempble your neo-con POTUS. You and Bush…no difference.

    Apparently I’m not the one, Bush (and you) still think we can win this war, I saw it as a losing proposition from the beginning.

  14. 14.

    Ugh

    July 26, 2007 at 1:29 pm

    I have proof that I’m the best person in teh whole wide world – my mom says so.

  15. 15.

    Wilfred

    July 26, 2007 at 1:32 pm

    They can throw as much Chanel No. 5 as they want on the stinking turd that is Guantanamo, but it’s never going to smell like anything but a stinking turd.

    Couple of 55 gallon drums of Aqua Velva should handle it. Look at Fred Thompson.

  16. 16.

    Sirkowski

    July 26, 2007 at 1:38 pm

    If we have to arrest everyone in the world who hates America and knows how to use a gun, doubling the size of Gitmo won’t be enough.

  17. 17.

    Ugh

    July 26, 2007 at 1:43 pm

    Do we have a definition of “demonstrated threat”? Cause, this administration tends to use words that don’t mean what they think they mean.

  18. 18.

    Rome Again

    July 26, 2007 at 1:53 pm

    Do we have a definition of “demonstrated threat”? Cause, this administration tends to use words that don’t mean what they think they mean.

    One word: Cheese!

  19. 19.

    DMcK

    July 26, 2007 at 2:02 pm

    Hmm, something’s fishy here; that first paragraph is clearly describing trained, professional soldiers, entitled to full protection under the guidelines of the Geneva Conventions.

  20. 20.

    Cassidy

    July 26, 2007 at 2:11 pm

    Not exactly. They aren’t Soldiers. This would be the crux of the problem. Theya re classified as EPW’s, for the convenience of detainment and military tribunals, but as they are not Soldiers, they shold be tried as criminals.

  21. 21.

    ImJohnGalt

    July 26, 2007 at 2:21 pm

    Cassidy, remind me again what it is that makes you self-identify as a Democrat? Other than “I won’t vote for Bush”, which puts you pretty solidly among the saner Republicans, most of what you say strikes me as having a pretty Republican slant.

  22. 22.

    Rome Again

    July 26, 2007 at 2:58 pm

    Cassidy, remind me again what it is that makes you self-identify as a Democrat? Other than “I won’t vote for Bush”, which puts you pretty solidly among the saner Republicans, most of what you say strikes me as having a pretty Republican slant.

    I told him this too, he replied that I was crazy.

  23. 23.

    Jake

    July 26, 2007 at 3:03 pm

    I would prefer to see terrorist prosecuted as criminals.

    B-bu-but, we can’t do that! They’d have to receive due process and a fair trial and … and … and anyway we’d have to lock them up in ‘Muricuh and one of them might get out, assemble a dirty bomb out of a soda can and the scrapings of five bazillion smoke detectors and kill us all!

    OK, that’s enough channelling of RedStatists pour moi.

  24. 24.

    Delia

    July 26, 2007 at 3:11 pm

    Mr Clean gets rid of dirt
    Grime and grease in just a minute
    Mr Clean will clean your whole house
    And everything that’s in it!
    Mr Clean! Mr Clean! Mr Clean!”

  25. 25.

    sglover

    July 26, 2007 at 4:10 pm

    Plainly the only safe thing to do is lock up all the swarthy people. Potential terrorists, the lot of them.

  26. 26.

    The Other Andrew

    July 26, 2007 at 6:55 pm

    Cassidy: Do you actually support outsourcing torture, or was that just a snarky aside?

  27. 27.

    Cassidy

    July 26, 2007 at 9:30 pm

    It was a joke.

  28. 28.

    Phoenician in a time of Romans

    July 27, 2007 at 4:13 pm

    In all, it says, 95 percent were at the least a “potential threat,” including detainees who had played a supporting role in terrorist groups or had expressed a commitment to pursuing violent jihadist goals. The study is based on information from detainees’ hearings in 2004 and 2005.

    “We’ve taken you from your home, kept you in prison for four years without lawyer or any sympathetic ear, humiliated you, beat you, and had a wonderful time doing it. Now we want to know what you think of us.”

    “I hate you bastards and wish you were all dead.”

    Another potential threat to the US.

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