The Management of Savagery

That is the name of a recently translated al Qaeda manual that Mudville says should be required reading for all troops. I say it should be required reading for all journalists. Here is the gist of it according to Mudville:

- Brutal killings must be explained in a manner that justifies the atrocity

- Public opinion must be turned against the enemy soldiers

- Al Qaeda should be seen as the solution to the chaos/savagery - even as they foment more such atrocities (hence the title)

"These efforts are to be directed at the local Muslim population in any conflict. In Iraq, with a majority non-Sunni population, they will achieve limited success. But the even more powerful response is desired from the population of the enemy state - erosion of support for the effort on the home front.

Hence whether the killers of these soldiers knew of the rape/murder at the time or not, the perpetrators of that earlier heinous crime have handed a victory to the enemy, perhaps the most significant propaganda victory of the war."

It really makes one question any of the allegations against our soldiers even more than we did before.