The New Way Forward In Iraq! Robocalls?

[Dr.Phool]

I guess if an idea fails, you just keep trying it over and over.

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002155.php

Baghdad Residents Hit By Robo Calls
By Paul Kiel - December 15, 2006, 12:26 PM

Who says we're not spreading democracy in Iraq?

Not long after Republicans harrassed tens of thousands of Americans with automated phone messages in November's election, news comes that the robo call, that staple of American democracy, is being deployed in Iraq. And it's literally terrorizing city residents.

Nir Rosen of the new blog Iraqslogger reports, calling it a "mysterious psychological operations campaign," that Baghdad residents have reported "receiving phone calls that the caller ID shows to be originating from outside Iraq." What follows is a "recorded message from an anonymous man speaking formal Arabic" who goes on to condemn the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia headed by the powerful cleric Muqtada al Sadr that's been a continual thorn in the U.S.'s side.

The Mahdi Army has also infiltrated police ranks, and run assassination squads. Fearing that the militia's inside men have access to wiretapping technology, ordinary Iraqis live in fear that their robocall will be picked up and intepreted as proof they are anti-Mahdi -- and face execution at the militia's hands. The call reportedly left one Iraqi woman in tears.

(snip) more

[brooklynite]

1. See? Who says we're not brining democrary to Iraq?

[Ian_rd]

2. American-style democracy is we wanted them to have after all!

This is so fucking ridiculous I suspect it as inaccurate from the get-go. But then again little would surprise me about the incompetence of our efforts over there.

Maybe pretty soon there'll be a TV ad running in Iraq with a sunni woman in a burka suggestively saying, "Moqtada, call me!"

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. Hmmm....

maybe I shouldn't immediately hang up on those, "Hi, I'm John. This is an automated message...." that I keep getting at work.