August 24, 2007

Point of Origin

Weapons from Iran are showing up in the hands of Iraqi insurgents? Well, weapons from the US are showing up in the hands of Turkish insurgents.

If the parallels weren't close enough, this quote comes from terrorism expert Professor Ihsan Bal, "quite a number of [Turkish] people are ready to believe that America might have directly [given these] weapons to the terrorist organization."


UPDATE!

I'm not accusing the US of purposely supplying weapons to insurgents (They are and some weird stuff is happening around it but that's another issue). I don't think the mere fact that US weapons turned up in Turkey means that the US purposely planted them there. Yet, the US military claims that Iran is planting weapons in Iraq and uses the mere fact Iranian weapons are found as evidence.

I'm really interested in is how the perceptions of populations create the need for more or less evidence backing up an accusation. When US weapons show up in Turkey, the Turks blame the US and the US blames the Iraqi police. When Iranian weapons show up in Iraq, the US blames Iran and visa versa. Americans don't need evidence to suspect Iran and the Turks don't need evidence to suspect the US.

The parallel quote from media expert Professor So and So would be, "quite a number of Americans are ready to believe that Iran might have directly given these weapons to the terrorist organization."

5 comments:

Diggs said...

If you read the quote fast enough it almost states something conclusive. And I don't see a direct parallel between the concept of supplying guns to help an insurgency, as compared to the American government supplying Iraqi police who in turn decide to make some money and sell the guns which make their way into Turkey.

Diggs said...

In the context of the article the quote supplied in the post is misleading. Bal does say that Turkish people are ready to believe that America might have directly given weapons to the terrorist organization...HOWEVER, he does not state that this belief stems from any facts that Americans did supply the PKK with weapons. Rather he merely states due to the unpopularity of the Iraq war Turkish people would be inclined to think so. A fine distinction between perception and reality.

Diggs said...

Update - I completely agree with the underlying premise that perception will dictate the need for evidece. However, this would seem to be a universal concept. You would be hard placed to find a nation where the opposite would be true. That being said, why limit your original point to the US and Turkey? Unless of course the next post is about how US citizens are willing to eat babies to further "political goals." J/K

the unbeatable kid said...

Only a brilliant satirist would write a post about the economic/political benefits of eating infants.

the unbeatable kid said...

the US is calling for an invasion of Iran. that makes the misdirection more important than in other places.