H. Thomas Hayden was formerly the President and CEO of First Communications Company (FCC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a joint venture between Raytheon and a Saudi Company involved in Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I) Systems for the Ministry of Defense and Aviation, Saudi Arabian National Guard and Ministry of Interior. Before retiring from the US Marine Corps, assignments included Commanding Officer (CO), Headquarters and Service Bn, 1st Force Service Support Group, which deployed to the Gulf War, CO Brigade Service Support Group – 9, which deployed to Somalia and CO MAU Service Support Group – 33, which deployed to The Philippines and Korea. He was Branch Head, Headquarters Marine Corps, Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict (SO/LIC), and Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for SO/LIC with assignments to Central America. He has participated in combat operations or contingency operations in the Republic of Vietnam, Central America, Gulf War, Somalia, and Columbia. Tom has a MBA, MA in International Relations, and a PhD candidate in Business Management. He is the author of two books and is currently writing a third: SHADOW WAR: Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict; WARFIGHTING: Maneuver Warfare in the US Marine Corps. He has published over 40 articles and has been awarded the Navy League’s Alfred Thayer Mahan award for literary achievement.
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The US news media did more harm to Paul Johnson, the kidnapped Lockheed-Martin employee who was beheaded in Saudi Arabia, than almost anything else.
A terrorist act is ALWAYS for a much greater audience than the immediate victim. The American TV and print news media gave the terrorist far greater attention than the act deserved.
The worst possible action by the news media was to show the grieving relatives, prayer vigils, and pleas by family members for compassion from the terrorists. This highlights the American weakness for causalities in war, and it shows a complete lack of understanding of the radical Islamic terrorists. Johnson may have been released if no one had devoted so much headlines in the print media, and the lead story in the TV news media.
Do we remember all the kidnappings in Lebanon? Do we remember that after it became so frequent and the news media moved the story to page 22, the terrorists stopped the kidnappings?
Is the US news media, and maybe many Americans, so uninformed on the origins of Islam and the radical Islamic extremist current desire for martyrdom in the process of killing Americans? Radical Islamic terrorist truly believe that if they die in the process of killing Americans that they will go straight to heaven. Tens of thousands are ready to die.
Islam is the only “religion” that was promulgated by thy sword. You either converted to Islam or you and your whole village, city, nation, was destroyed - every man, woman and child was killed. This is why Islam covers a wide stretch from Morocco to the Philippines.
Do you know where the word “assassin” came from? It is from Arabic. The Assassins ware a separate group, an offshoot of one of the many sects of Islam. They formed secret sects, lived and trained together in mountain hideouts, and no government, even Islamic, dared to challenge them. They were especially threatening because they had no fear of death because if they were to die, in the execution of their sacred mission, they were hailed as martyrs and guaranteed eternal life in the garden of paradise. They believed that they would be revered after their death.
Most assassinations that have been carried out over the centuries and even today are suicide missions seeking martyrdom. So, why does the US news media encourage the terrorists by glorifying their acts?
That’s what the publicity from the US news media is all about in the eyes of the terrorists. Terrorists seeing the pictures of the grieving and terrified US parents, friends and neighbors are emboldened, encouraged, and glorified in the minds of their compatriots.
USA TODAY, Fri/Sat/Sun, June 18-20, 2004, has a front page photo of a grieving mother who lost her son in the 9/11 attacks, as she “reacts to testimony.” What more could USA TODAY do to encourage the terrorist? This photo could never show more vividly how many in the American public reacts to the terrorists’ acts. This is what they want - to terrorize the American public.
We are sadly losing the propaganda war in the Arab world. It doesn’t take much these days to show the Great Satan as the curse of the Arab Muslim world. We do far more damage to ourselves than the terrorists, with prisoner abuse, bombing wrong targets, killing a car full of innocent people, etc. It’s bad enough that the Arab press shows all the distorted bad things that happen in the Middle East, but does the American press have to help them?
You may ask why is this important. It is important because the vast majority of Arabs live in poverty or in a condition of underemployment, and are seeking a better life. So what can they lose by joining the jihad of killing Americans, and gain heaven if they go with the dark side?
This is not to condemn the majority of Muslims all over the world. The radical regime in Shiite Iran and the former radical Sunni regime in Afghanistan are exceptions and not the rule. However, there are plenty of Madrasas -- radical Islamic schools -- teaching hatred of the Great Satan, in many Islamic countries, to those who will become martyrs.
