Pat Robertson, the American televangelist, today appeared to withdraw a diatribe against Ariel Sharon in an attempt to salvage his $50 million plan for a biblical theme park in Galilee.

In other news, there is a god and he is hilarious

Robertson tries to save Jesusland after Sharon gibe

In state of the art studios, producers prepare the daily mix of music and news for the group's radio stations or spots for friendly television outlets. Writers putting out newspapers and magazines in Baghdad and Kabul converse via teleconferences. Mobile trailers with high-tech gear are parked outside, ready for the next crisis.

The center is not part of a news organization, but a military operation, and those writers and producers are soldiers. The 1,200-strong psychological operations unit based at Fort Bragg turns out what its officers call "truthful messages" to support the United States government's objectives, though its commander acknowledges that those stories are one-sided and their American sponsorship is hidden.

Lincoln says it planted more than 1,000 articles in the Iraqi and Arab press and placed editorials on an Iraqi Web site, Pentagon documents show. For an expanded stealth persuasion effort into neighboring countries, Lincoln presented plans, since rejected, for an underground newspaper, television news shows and an anti-terrorist comedy based on "The Three Stooges."

According to this NYT report, most of the planted articles are attributed to the "International Information Center", if attributed at all.

Military's Information War Is Vast and Often Secretive - New York Times

"This shows that the program has worked beyond our expectations," said Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.)

?? It appears they shot an innocent person. There are questions. Where the proceedures followed? Are the proceedures correct? Even if this is the best we can hope for it should not be trumpeted as a success. It is a failure and it deserves critical analysis.

Shooting Is Defended But Gets Mixed Reviews

The response from the Pentagon was mixed with Rumsfeld's spokesperson Bryan Whitman saying that he was unaware of such practice and raised the concern that "this article raises some question as to whether or not some of the practices that are described in there are consistent with the principles of this department."

I'd likely be more disturbed by this if we weren't bombarded by propaganda and advertising every day in our own media. Granted, not a really great way to foster democracy, but is it any different for us?

U.S. military covertly pays to run stories in Iraqi press

We have tended to see jihadist terrorism as something produced in dysfunctional parts of the world, such as Afghanistan, Pakistan or the Middle East, and exported to Western countries. Protecting ourselves is a matter either of walling ourselves off, or, for the Bush administration, going "over there" and trying to fix the problem at its source by promoting democracy.

There is good reason for thinking, however, that a critical source of contemporary radical Islamism lies not in the Middle East, but in Western Europe. In addition to Bouyeri and the London bombers, the March 11 Madrid bombers and ringleaders of the September 11 attacks such as Mohamed Atta were radicalized in Europe. In the Netherlands, where upwards of 6% of the population is Muslim, there is plenty of radicalism despite the fact that Holland is both modern and democratic. And there exists no option for walling the Netherlands off from this problem.

A piece that makes some interesting points about Islamic radicalism, viewing it more as a domestic problem. It would be interesting to see some data on the social class of various participants in Islamic terrorism and possibly comparison to domestic organizations like the KKK, the ALF, and (in Canada) the FLQ.

Francis Fukuyama - A Year of Living Dangerously

The Canadian Liberal minority was defeated 171-133 today in a historic vote of non-confidence. The minority goverment only survived for one year and five months. This is the first time a Canadian goverment has fallen on a simple vote of no-confidence. As a result of the vote, Prime Minister Paul Martin is expected to ask the governor general Michaëlle Jean Tuesday morning and ask her to dissolve Parliament. Expectations are that the election will be held Janurary 23rd 2006 providing a much longer election campaign than usual and only the second wintertime election in Canada's history.

The only problem is that it may make no difference. If the people vote Liberal yet again, what are we saying? That we sanction corruption? I'm having serious thoughts about our lack of a term limit. If we have to keep the same party we should at least require a new PM, the potential for abuse is astronomical, especially if apathy is as widespread as it seems to be.

Canadian goverment falls in non-confidence vote - Wikinews