But the government's interagency Iran Steering Group found in a report released by Coburn that neither network has been effective at representing the views of the U.S. government, a mission defined in VOA's charter, let alone at promoting democracy. (from above)

Our own Congessmen don't know what the "views of the U.S. government are, how can a radio station know.

It's a government agency, staffed by people whose only goal is to hold down their desk and not make waves. Contributing something is not in their job description.

The good thing about all these resolutions in the News is that the public gets to see how ridiculous some of those clowns in the House are, Jay Leno couldn't make up a joke like J. Murtha.
I've always joked that the House is made up of the guys with the qualifications of having owned the biggest car lot in town.

Posted by: auntbea at February 16, 2007 7:22 AM

VOA used to be a beacon of hope and a bright light to hundreds of millions of souls languishing in the communist hells behind the Iron Curtain. It is very sad to see that it has become nothing more than another liberal media "whore" eager to say whatever is "politically correct." Now there is absolutely no differance between it and the Bolshevik propaganda organs it once sought to counter. It has become exactly what its enemy was - a propaganda arm of a totalitarian regime and nothing more.

Posted by: A.I. Steamroller at February 16, 2007 7:25 AM

Why bother with VOA and waste money? Just pipe in canned feeds from NPR and BBC. They're Iran-regime-friendly and thus won't cause any upset stomachs during ramadan or any other time.

Posted by: scrualla at February 16, 2007 7:29 AM

Hey.. what's "another $50 million" after all? Since I hade the idea how to save this money and still give them ultra-liberal pro-islam radio I should get half the money I am saving our guvmint. Tax-free of course :-) No need to use my onety toi feed any iraqi "refugees".

Speaking of which.. There's a blofg on CNN and of course, they've only published two comments against - wedged in among tons of liberal bilgewater.

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/blog/2007/02/is-us-obliged-to-accept-iraqi-refugees.html

They even ghave a Mo from the UK chming in among several VERY liEberal comments from Canada and San Francisco.

To our Canadian friends: I'd like to give you San Francisco in trade for Herouxville! Let's start creating countries that consolidate by VALUES - not by geography as much.

Posted by: scrualla at February 16, 2007 7:34 AM

"But it has given ample air-time to top Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon, and to anti-American advocates, the report found."

....Sounds like a terrorist organization to me...Don't we have some rules regarding the funding of terrorist organizations?......

Posted by: exsgtbrown at February 16, 2007 8:08 AM

A keen Egyptian has analyzed similar problems at the various Arabic-language stations paid for by American taxpayers. And so have Lebanese Maronites, such as Tom Harb. They are not fooled. They know who is calling the shots, doing the staffing, crafting the programs -- it's a scandal, from first to last.

Who in Congress will investigate, and then demand a stop to these farces, Persian-language (the official government-sponosred stuff, not the excellent programming that is beamed by Iranians in exile from Los Angeles -- that's a different matter) and Arabic-language stations both, full of their taxpayer-supported endorsements of Islam and the Muslim worldview?

Posted by: Hugh at February 16, 2007 11:23 AM

This is unconscionable. Every dollar spent on "propaganda" ought to be worth $100 spend on guns. While military spending is arguably indispensible in this fight against terror, the war will never be won by killing sufficiently many people...or if it ever is, it will be as bad a crime as allowing the Islamists to overrun us.

The war can only be won in the long run by winning hearts and minds; redeeming the enemy instead of simply killing them. Some of the sick and misguided efforts at allied propaganda in this war have done us grievous harm, and until our administrators and the media they control learn to understand what values they espouse, and the mindset of those to whom they need to sell these values all our bombs and bullets mean nothing.

I recently read the basic script of certain front-line NATO military "communicators" in Afghanistan whose job is to win over the people before the taliban does. Their message, communicated through translators as they travel through the villages, is basically "don't join the nasty taliban; they are bad people and we Westerners have much better values and material goods for you". Sort of a squeaky-clean Disney rendition of the bad guys and the good guys. Absolutely no understanding of the mindset of the enemy and the way they win over grassroots support, no idea at all of the massive ideological struggle underway. The enemy knows us much better than we know them, apparently. Or, if we know them we certainly aren't making any use of that knowledge!

VOA and similar programs should not be canned -- if used properly they are worth twice what the military effort in that part of the world is worth. Gut the programs and turn them into something that will the folks in these foresaken lands some hope for a better world, and an alternate, more factual, way of understanding world events. Give them hard-core information about the forces affecting their lives, that is not available to them through the sanitised Islamic newsstream and propaganda.

Further, our "propaganda" should simply be factual, with clear, unassailable information. Backed up with solid research that can be accessed by the target audiences. Let them see the corruption of the regimes, the abuses of the jihadists, the failures of the Islamist agenda, the moral depravity of their methodology.

They say that the first casualty in war is the Truth. But I would argue that in this war the truth should be our most effective weapon. Everyone on both sides of this battle knows of the lies of the Islamists; there's no pretending there. Our "propaganda" should be pure, undiluted truth, so starkly different that it makes it easy to decide between them. It should routinely dissect and dismantle every lie that comes from the enemy, in real time. Islamist lie today ... within 24 hours, broadcast an exposure of the lie in terms the common people can understand.

Make sure they hear about the hundreds of schools, hospitals, roads and power plants paid for by American $$$. Let them hear live interviews with heartland american christians sponsoring children in their wartorn lands, explaining how the American and western people are not bent on killing everyone who hates them, but are sacrificing enormous resources to help them in spite of the hate. Of parents whose children have sacrificed their lives out of love for the people who hate them, who made the ultimate sacrifice NOT to imperialistically expand America as their propagandists tell them but to bring them freedom and independence.

Show them the huge contrast between how our values motivate our actions toward them and how their leaders' values are motivating the atrocities they commit. Don't just roll over and leave the jihadists' lies unanswered.

Most kindergarten teachers I know could write better propaganda than I hear about these days from our leaders. God help us! Maybe they should fire their news editors and copy writers and hire a few articulate grannies instead.

Posted by: Archimedes2 at February 16, 2007 3:13 PM

VOA, etc., are tools of war. They should be placed under the Defense Department with no Foggy Bottom Islamic strings attached.

Posted by: Jimmy Bones at February 17, 2007 2:51 PM