http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/world/11/05/5terrorismad. html
Anti-terrorism ad hits Mideast airwaves Backers are shadowy but message is clear in graphic TV commercial against terrorism. By Anna Johnson ASSOCIATED PRESS Sunday, November 05, 2006 CAIRO, Egypt - A TV commercial aimed at thwarting terrorism has hit Mideast TV networks using high-tech effects to show the anatomy of a suicide bombing in graphic detail. The $1 million ad is packed with special effects including the time-suspension technique made popular in the "Matrix" movies to show bodies, cars and broken glass flying in slow motion through the air. Its sleekness, and the secrecy surrounding its creators and backers, lead some to suspect the U.S. government is behind it in its effort to woo would-be terrorists away from violence and encourage moderates to take a forthright stand against extremism. The U.S. government refuses to say clearly whether it's involved in the commercial, which began airing this summer on Al-Arabiya, Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. and several Iraqi channels. The 60-second ad opens with a young boy seeing a man walk by in a crowded market. The man stops and exposes yellow explosives strapped to his body. The boy sees the bombs just before they go off, sending cars flying and people crashing through the windows of a cafe. The ad then shows the aftermath: wreckage, weeping and fires. It ends with the words "Terrorism has no religion" in Arabic. A Los Angeles warehouse district filled with 200 cast members stood in for the market during the ad's filming earlier this year, according to a statement by California-based 900 Frames, which helped produce the commercial. The ad is on a Web site - www.noterror.info - where viewers can see it and read Quranic verses deploring violence. But details about who made the ads are scant. A news release said the project was financed privately by scholars, executives and activists living in Iraq and abroad - but didn't elaborate. During the filming, 900 Frames said that the group behind it, the Future Iraq Assembly, wanted to remain anonymous. The group, which also is behind a series other of Iraq-specific ads, describes itself on www.futureiraq.org as "an independent, nongovernmental organization, comprised of a number of scholars, businesspersons and activists." Spokesmen for the U.S. State Department and Defense Department said that they couldn't find any information that their agencies were linked to the ad, but neither would rule out some government involvement. Lawrence Pintak, the director of the Adham Center for Electronic Journalism at the American University in Cairo, thinks the commercial is unlikely to have much influence on young Arabs. "When this kind of advertisement is sandwiched between footage of Lebanon and Iraq, it's going to fall on deaf ears," Pintak said. Pintak also worries that the ad looks too American. "It just raises so many red flags," he said. "The assumption is it has to be made by the Americans or the Saudis." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
