Today’s Washington Post reports this:

A Rand Corp. report commissioned by the U.S. Joint Forces Command provides examples of how misinterpreted images have damaged the U.S. government’s credibility in Iraq, Afghanistan and other nations.

Shocking evidence of how American customs infuriate the rest of the world, and presumably instigate terror attacks against us, include this shameful episode in American history:

Let’s focus on the top image — the hook ‘em horns public diplomacy fiasco.  You know, old timers might remember the glory days of American history when obscene hand gestures actually produced good results for the rest of the world, such as the spread of freedom and democracy and truth.  I’m thinking specifically of that moment in 1983 when I attended a University of Maryland football game, got so disgusted at their inept play, mustered up the courage to yell “You Suck!,” then took the ultimate act: I displayed my middle finger.  Little did I realize then the proud freedom movement that one simple, elegant and quite bold act would spark: The next day, America invaded Grenada.

Seems that Fidel Castro is getting a giddy pat on the back and atta-boy from the United Nations.

Cuba has solved crippling energy shortages that plagued the island as recently as 2004 without sacrificing a long-term commitment to promoting environmentally friendly fuels, the head of the U.N. Environment Program said Wednesday. …

“Cuba a few years ago was facing a real energy crisis, 16 hours of … electricity cuts and therefore a realization that the economy was going to collapse under this system,” said [Achim] Steiner, in Havana for a conference on the environment and development.

“In terms of a short term response, it is quite remarkable how Cuba, under its economic conditions, managed to solve that crisis,” he said.

So, how’d they pull off this electrical miracle? Here’s one method:

Fidel Castro appeared on television nearly daily to explain improvements in excruciating detail …

Ah, good for the long-suffering Cubans. Nothing like a solid four-hour excruciating rant from the President of the Council of State to rally the faihtful. It does, though, make you wonder if Cuba’s electrical grid would further benefit from Castro not being on TV at all during these energy-conscious days.

And since he’s enamored with delivery of broadcast news, here’s something else President Castro might consider: Stop jamming Radio and TV Marti. Cuba wastes an enormous amount of electricity jamming the free flow of information from the U.S. Imagine if instead of blocking news they’d use their precious resource to power air conditioning, refrigerators, and other things that actually help the Cuban people. Maybe one of these days the United Nations might even suggest it.

A rare chance to praise Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) for this tidbit we found in Dana Milbank’s story today:

As it happens, nonsense was on prominent display at both ends of the Capitol yesterday. The day began with a hearing of a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee investigating a singular case of government dysfunction: how the administration had allowed al-Hurra, a U.S.-funded Middle Eastern television station, to promote Holocaust deniers and anti-Israel campaigns. “Why are American taxpayer dollars used to spread the hate, lies and propaganda of these nuts, when our goal was to counter them?” asked the subcommittee chairman, Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.).

Nuts is probably the best description you can say in Congress.  Axis of evil-doing nuts.

The New York Sun runs this editorial on Alhurra, America’s Middle East satellite news network run by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (where I used to work):

Among Alhurra’s blunders has been a broadcast of Hezbollah’s leading ideologist of anti-Jewish terror, Sheik Nasrallah. Alhurra kept him on the air — live, no less — for more than an hour, a stunt that some members of Congress recently charged, in a letter to Secretary Rice, violated a written policy. The congressmen quoted a report in the Wall Street Journal that quoted Sheik Nasrallah, five minutes into his rant on Alhurrah, as saying “the only place where bullets should be is the chest of the enemies of Lebanon: the Israeli enemy.” The congressmen also cited a bizarre broadcast that gave credence to Iran’s Holocaust denial conference. This has lead to calls in the Congress and in the press (particularly eloquently in dispatches by Joel Mowbray issued by the Wall Street Journal) for greater oversight.

The Holocaust denial conference mention is particularly noteworthy.  Some examples of what Alhurra broadcast:

• Anchor: “Iranian foreign minister Manushaher Muttaki said that his country’s intent is not to deny or prove this issue (the Holocaust).”
• Mohamed Abou Jihad, Hamas’ representative in Tehran: ““It is obvious that only part of the story is told regarding what happened during WWII.”
• Reporer: “Even if opinions have differed about how true the Holocaust is, particularly that some denied its occurrence.”
• David Duke: “Thanks to President Ahmedinejad, experts from all around the world were able to gather here in order to discuss this incident and exchange views about it.”

This may represent the worst lapse in editorial judgment ever for America’s international broadcasting efforts.

Joel Mowbray has a fascinating Wall Street Journal piece looking inside Alhurra, America’s Arabic-language satellite news network broadcasting to the Middle East.  It’s funded by the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors, where I used to work.  Headline: “Mad TV: U.S. taxpayers subsidize terrorist propaganda and Holocaust denial in the Arab world.”

The whole piece is worth the read.  Mowbray examines “questionable editorial decisions” by Alhurra chief Larry Register, a former CNN producer.   This part jumps out:

During the March 21 House Foreign Operations Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Rep. Mark Kirk (R., Ill.) pressed Ms. [Condoleezza] Rice on the wisdom of providing a platform to Islamic terrorists, citing Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah’s Dec. 7 speech, which Al-Hurra aired live. The broadcast speech “went on for 30 minutes,” she responded, “followed by commentary, much of which was critical of Nasrallah.”

In fact, Mr. Nasrallah’s speech was carried in its entirety, roughly an hour and eight minutes.

Stunning.  Why would anyone mislead the Secretary of State?  And shouldn’t Alhurra programming at least be provided for review to the Board that funds it — to at least get the facts straight?

More precisely, a victory for U.S.-sponsored television broadcasting in Iraq.  If you saw video of the bombing of Iraq’s parliament inside the Green Zone, it’s likely you were watching footage shot by Alhurra, America’s Arabic-language satellite news channel funded by the Bush Administration through the Broadcasting Board of Governors (where I used to work).

Alhurra has taken hits by opponents of America’s international broadcasting efforts and Middle East policies — the detractors are both abroad and at home.  But if pictures say a thousand words, Alhurra’s alert on-the-scene photography should easily win the argument, showing the need for a truthful news presence and alternative to Al Jazeera and its ilk. 

Here’s a screen shot and AP’s caption:

This photo taken from Alhurra TV via AP Television News shows victims of an explosion in the Iraqi parliament cafeteria in Baghdad’s Green Zone in Iraq today. A suspected suicide bomber blew himself up in the Iraqi parliament cafeteria killing at least eight people and wounding dozens in a stunning assault in the heart of the heavily fortified, U.S.-protected Green Zone. Television footage showed scenes of pandemonium inside the building at the moment of the attack.

Soon after doing a remake of “The In-Laws,” Albert Brooks dived into the realm of public diplomacy with the under-appreciated “Looking For Comedy In The Muslim World.”

A fun 2005 film made more relevant these days with Fred Thompson’s apperance as a politician turned actor turned State Department official who enlists Brooks to write a 500-page report on what makes the Muslim world laugh.

Brooks: Are you back in politics? I thought you were acting now.

Thompson: Once you’re in politics you never really escape.

Life imitating art imiating life — imitating politics.

And Thompson gets off this great dead-pan line: “The president, as you know, has a pretty darn good sense of humor.”

Perhaps the next one will, too?

Check out the Washington Post’s front-pager on the fading democracy movement in Egypt.

Should make us all — both bloggers and civilians — love America a little bit more today.

Pardon the lengthy excerpt, but it’s worth it.

On May 12, 2006, Gamal Mubarak paid what Egypt’s ambassador called a private visit to Washington, where he joined Vice President Cheney at the White House. As those talks went on, Seif, the blogger, sat in prison. So did Wael Khalil, the activist who heard an anti-Mubarak slogan being shouted for the first time in 2001.

Before his arrest, Seif, always casually dressed, had helped design Kifaya’s Web site, 20 blogs for opposition colleagues and home pages for Kifaya candidates. Soon, in what emerged as the last gasp of a retreating movement, he helped organize protests in solidarity with two Egyptian judges who faced expulsion from the bench after they had called for judicial independence and criticized the parliamentary balloting. The security forces arrested hundreds of people, particularly after the Brotherhood joined the demonstrations. Seif was detained May 7, when 300 police moved on a few dozen protesters outside a courthouse.

They blindfolded him tied his arms behind his back and took him to a police station. Among the charges: insulting the president, illegal assembly and obstructing traffic, the latter offense difficult to define in a city whose streets are snarled in distilled anarchy. From there he was taken to prison, where his hair was cut, a gesture used to humiliate prisoners. For a day, he was in solitary.

“I knew they were turning ugly,” Khalil said. “It was clear they were holding us captive until the movement subsided.”

Khalil had been arrested earlier as he drank sugar-cane juice in front of the courthouse. He was released the same day as Seif, on June 22.

As his friends sat in prison, Wael Abbas, a 32-year-old goateed blogger, heard word that he was wanted, too.

He went home and removed hard disks from two desktop computers. He hurriedly stuffed them in a bag, along with his laptop and cameras, where he had saved two years of videotapes and photos. He went to a friend’s house for two days, then caught a first-class train to Alexandria, on the Mediterranean. “On first class, they’re not looking for suspects,” he explained. Once there, he sneaked into Internet cafes to post entries on his blog.

A week later, lawyers told him it was safe to return.

“That’s the life of a blogger in Egypt,” he said.

Joel Mowbray has a must-read piece in the Wall Street Journal about the Broadcasting Board of Governors, where I used to work, and Al Hurra, America’s Arabic-language Middle East satellite TV news broadcaster.

Some excerpts about the ”network’s decision last December to broadcast most of a speech by Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hasan Nasrallah”:

The airing of the Nasrallah speech is a sign of the network’s new direction since it was taken over by a longtime CNN producer, Larry Register, last November. … Within weeks of becoming news director, Mr. Register put his own stamp on the network. Producers and on-air talent quickly understood that change was underway. Investigations into Arab government wrongdoing or oppression were no longer in vogue, and the ban on turning the airwaves over to terrorists was lifted. For those who had chafed under Mr. Register’s predecessor — who curbed the desire of many on staff to make Al-Hurra more like al-Jazeera — the new era was welcomed warmly.   “Everybody feels emboldened. Register changed the atmosphere around here,” notes one staffer. “Register is trying to pander to Arab sympathies,” says another.

Nice CNN legacy.

Quite some bravado from Kos in today’s Washington Post article about liberal bloggers pounding on their new public enemy #1: Democratic Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher:

“Absolutely, we could take her out.”

And truth be told, they probably could pull it off.

But if you really want to see how important and compelling blogs are for democracy, go a few pages further into the Post.  From an op-ed by University of Chicago’s Raja Kamal and Cato Institute’s Tom Palmer:

A former college student, Abdelkareem Nabil Soliman, is sitting in an Egyptian prison, awaiting sentencing tomorrow. His alleged “crime”: expressing his opinions on a blog. His mistake: having the courage to do so under his own name. … Whether or not we agree with the opinions that Abdelkareem Nabil Soliman expressed is not the issue. What matters is a principle: People should be free to express their opinions without fear of being imprisoned or killed. Blogging should not be a crime. 

What’s happening in Egypt seems a bit more compelling and critical for our blogging attention than the ability to influence a congressional district election here at home.