Mission Al-Jazeera: Build a Bridge, Seek the Truth, Change the World

The title of this book captured my attention right off. As I read through Josh Rushing's experience working in the U.S. Central Command media office in Iraq, his story opened my eyes to a new "front" in the Iraq war that isn't debated nearly as much as soldiers, tanks, and weapons: the media. Josh's perspective is particularly insightful because he was there. As a military spokesman to media outlets around the world, he was the officer in charge of engaging the largest Arab media outlet: Al Jazeera Arabic. He believes this channel is not meant to undermine or attack anyone, but is instead an important voice in the Arab world. Unfortunately, military and political leaders have taken a very hands-off and at times even hostile approach towards Al Jazeera. That's why Josh -- an officer with no expertise in Arab culture or language -- became the face of the West to the 35-55 million viewers across the Arab world during the current Iraq war. Based on the cultural experience he gained from working with Al Jazeera reporters, he considers the U.S. failure to truly work with the Arab media a huge strategic mistake. It is also a failure in a larger war of information, ideas, and explanations about the U.S. role in the Arab world. That's part of the reason why Josh works for Al-Jazeera English today. He truly believes that misunderstandings, and particularly cultural misunderstandings, fuel ongoing conflict. Al Jazeera English launched in November of 2006, and is viewed in 100 million homes worldwide. Yet only Ohio and Vermont have picked up the channel in the United States. Thus most of America is missing out on a new model for international news that is building a bridge between cultures by having local people report on their issues to an international audience. Viewers in America wouldn't get an American perspective on Iraq; they'd hear from Iraqi journalists. Sometimes this might be difficult. As Josh noticed, Al Jazeera videos can be disturbing to watch because they provide a more accurate portrayal of war realities than what we're used to seeing in the United States. This is part of what Josh describes as getting to the "Ground Truth." That's where, by listening to those closest to the issues, you can start to reach a truly substantive debate. Even solutions. While Josh writes honestly about mistakes in Iraq, he also has hope for the future. A lot of people in the military and political realm want to better utilize, understand, and work with the media. And, he points out, Americans want to become better informed about the world around them. Modern technology makes building these bridges of information possible, so people can see, hear, and try to understand the Ground Truth. And, as we get closer to the Ground Truth and push the debate deeper, we may even be able to change the world. For more information on the Ground Truth, check out http://www.epic-usa.org/.

With America losing the information and public relations war around the world today, "Mission al-Jazeera" is a fascinating and timely book that should be required reading by the many Administration Public Affairs and press secretary's. Author Josh Rushing first came to the public's attention in the award-winning documentary "Control Room." He was the young Marine Lieutenant Public Affairs Officer dealing with upstart Arabic television station Al-Jazeera in early days of the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Using these exciting days at Centcom's headquarters in Qatar, Rushing's book has two main themes interwoven throughout the story. The first theme is how important it is to use media properly in order to influence international public opinion; or at least to fight the international media war to a draw. Assigned as the Al-Jazeera liaison because all his senior officers preferred to deal with the western heavyweights like ABC, NBC, and the BBC, Rushing was notable for his even-handed views of the war, and his foresight in realizing that positive and honest media relations might be the key to "spreading the word" into the Arab world. Unfortunately the senior leadership did not share these same view and Rushing describes how Centcom's lack of interest in dealing with the various Arab media organizations hurt the United State's efforts to "sell the war" to the Arab world. He explains in detail how marginalizing Arab media only serves to diminish American influence in the Middle East. Western concepts of strength are too easily construed in the Arab world as humiliation, and that pictures of dead Iraqi soldiers can also viewed as pictures of dead relatives - which lead to still-occurring consequences. Author Rushing also begins to discuss the relationship between the military and the media. On a strategic level, both sides need each other; the military has a story to `sell', and at the same time the media needs a story to `buy." But it's on the tactical level that Rushing begins to tell the story as he discusses the media's infatuation with the military and how the Administration was able to use their softball-style of reporting to it's best advantage. Finally, Rushing describes Al-Jazeera Television and it's role in the world today. With offices in most major international cities, and distribution throughout most countries except the United States ( including such western bastions as England, Germany, and Israel ), Al-Jazeera English is part of a multi-media organization that includes a children's channel, several sports channels, a documentary channel, and a C-SPAN-like channel that focuses on debates and current events. Written in an informal, yet informative style, Josh Rushing digs into his background of Texan, with 14 years in the Marine Corps, as he discusses covering a war from both the Arab and American point of view. Rushing has produced an invaluable book on the importance of dealing with international media, instead of just cha

Thank you, Josh. You've made my world a little larger, and my understanding of it has grown as well. As a Marine, I would never have read this book had it not been for Josh Rushing's Marine Corps service. Had he been Army or otherwise, I probably would have dismissed his story, and that would have been my loss. Mission Al Jazeera provided information on several ideas I think we should consider further: -How the American and Arabic cultures have clashed unnecessarily. -How we can find points to agree on. -How to open up a dialogue on points where we disagree.. -How the U.S. manages (or mismanages) the publicity war. -How we can (and why we should) engage the Arab world through their media. -How we could improve our own military public affairs. Josh is still a Marine, though he is no longer paid by the Corps. This shows in his writing as he is intelligent and respectful when he is critical. It is clear that Josh disagrees with almost everything the current administration stands for, but this is not a Bush-bashing book. His points against the administration are fair, and he also has criticism for the American Left, the Arabic World, and himself. As a Conservative and a Bush supporter, I did not find this to be leftist propaganda, mindless Bush-bashing, or even a criticism of the Iraq war itself. It is a criticism of our failure in nation-building (which is well-documented) and a criticism of individual policies for which Rushing is not only opposing, but providing solutions as well. One example of Rushing's book that I thought was insightful: He makes the argument (in front of an audience of Generals, no less) that if you can trust young men and women to lead a patrol through a village with little supervision from superiors, you should be able to train and trust at least one of those squad members to be an on-the-spot spokesperson to speak to the media and provide relevant details. This is currently forbidden, and it prevents the media from communicating the military perspective on a situation, while the victims and enemies are able to get their perspective out immmediately. Overall, Rushing argues for new communications policies due to the new, flat world we live in. Rushing also argues that Al Jazeera English is what media should be. According to Rushing, they provide all sides of a story better than any other international news service. We all know that the American media is slanted, that they "dumb-down" the news, and they all play essentially the same stories. Maybe Al Jazeera is not the best alternative (or maybe it is,) but the fact is that they are challenging the establishment and may be the catalyst required for an American media that is overdue for a change. I read the book over a few evenings. The book is well-paced and short enough to get to the point, provide enough information, and not drag on.

Mission Al Jazeera: Build a Bridge, Seek the Truth, Change the World, Josh Rushing, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, 256 pages, $24.95. Reviewed by Major Charles M. Kyle, U.S. Army, student at the Command and General Staff College. Though not an autobiography, Josh Rushing, a former Marine Captain, and now al Jazeera journalist, shares his personal story while assigned to the public affairs office at CENTCOM before and during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The author discusses two very important topics in this book. First, from an historical perspective, Rushing discusses the interaction or lack thereof between DoD and the Arab Media. This topic of discussion is extremely enlightening on the subject of how the military public affairs office went from doing its traditional job of informing on and about the war to "selling the war", a state department public relations responsibility. Rushing goes to great lengths to explain how the US marginalized the Arab media eliminating all possibility of US influence in the Arab world. The second topic that Rushing explores is the means by which US government officials could engage the Arab world, both governments and populace. Rushing writes "if we are to win the war on terror, we have to interact with the media at home and abroad in order to control the way we are perceived." Rushing spent 14 years as a Marine Corps media liaison officer and is currently working as an international journalist for Al Jazeera. This mix of military public affairs with western and Arab journalism, gives him a perspective not found in the normal American Mind. This allows the author to remove the American cultural lens that most of us normally suffer from and provide a perspective that could be a great tool to be used. The greatest take away from the book is a look into the Arab Mind and how they, the Arab world, perceive US actions. Rushing does discuss that this perception is often faulty but argues that it will continue to be until the US decides to engage instead of marginalizing the Arab media. This work is a valuable, informative effort to discuss our media engagement plan. I highly recommend it to all readers because of its relevance to the challenges our military leaders face today of engaging and dealing with the media within the contemporary operational environment.

Ever since we started hearing about Al- Jazeera and the rest of Arab media, it's natural that we thought they were propaganda machines. To be fair, to some extent, they are. What most of us failed to understand was that those media channels gave us an opening to a world that we never saw or understood. What Mr.Rushing has done is truly amazing. He has walked into a sensitive zone that many would consider un-American. But what he is trying to accomplish will sure help bridge the humongous chasm that exists between two civilizations that should thrive together if they mutually understood each others concerns. What is truly amazing for someone like me who came from a country ( Sri Lanka) where human rights and press freedom are pretty much dead is the overwhelming endorsement that Rushing is getting from the public. When a Sri Lankan journalist called Sivaram tried to do the same, he was labeled a `traitor' by the Sri Lankan government and was killed by the paramilitaries in front of the Sri Lankan parliament. Rushing is amazing and above all American press freedom is amazing. "Mission Al Jazeera" is a book that should be read by every peace loving person on the earth. Mr. Rushing deserves a Nobel Peace Prize!!! N.Sivakumar Author of America Misunderstood: What a Second Bush Victory Meant to the Rest of the World