I just watched a recent episode of Fault Lines - a program hosted by Josh Rushing on al-Jazeera English. This struck me as some of the most blatantly misleading and outrageous propaganda that I have seen on that station in a long time. It was particularly disturbing that Rushing, who served 15 years in the Marines, would participate in this charade.

The subject matter was the evangelical movement and the U.S. Military. The episode spliced together highly selective and highly unrepresentative pieces of video, capturing some of the most awkward and goofiest moments that I have ever seen, and portrayed them as the norm in our military, attempting to make it look as though there are a significant number of Soldiers who joined the military in response to 9/11 because they viewed it as a holy war in which they could use military service as a conduit for proselytizing. The program scoured the news and managed to piece together a handful of extreme examples and portray them as part of some deliberate, concentrated effort at spreading the gospel in Iraq and Afghanistan. The abberations were presented as the norm.

This episode struck me as simply bizarre. The subject matter was pure dreck. It was disingenuous and clearly intended to provoke fear and concern among non-Christians, particularly those in the Arab world, if it is also aired in Arabic. I don't know how anyone who has been in the military could view this and think that there is a shred of honesty or any absence of ulterior motive. On the other hand, it looks like it would be pretty convincing to others. The facts that were dug up - and the glaring absence of facts that are more readily obtainable - seem like they could easily sway someone who knows little or nothing about our military, which would include most Americans and certainly most of the Arab world.

I don't know how large of an audience has seen this or what that audience composition is, so I don't know how big of a problem this is. Does this strike anyone as a significant problem? If so, how do we defend against broadsides like this - outrageous claims out of left field? It seems that whomever strikes first with these claims has the advantage and you can't really anticipate every ridiculous accusation and pre-empt it. Or do I overestimate how convincing this stuff is and overestimate its potential impact?

The one saving grace was that Rushing interviewed Brent Scowcroft on this episode, tried to play a game of "gotcha" on this topic, and Scowcroft eventually got the better of him. At least that part wasn't edited out.