Video: Iraqi police recruiting ad
posted at 7:57 am on March 12, 2007 by Allahpundit
Cheesy yet affecting. Although I wonder if it’ll earn them a single extra recruit above and beyond what they get from offering good pay.
They forgot to show you the last scene, where the cops go home after work and put on their Mahdi Army uniforms.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
They forgot to show you the last scene, where the cops go home after work and put on their Mahdi Army uniforms.
That’s harsh Allah
Babs on March 12, 2007 at 8:01 AM
Remember, not everyone in the world is as exquisitely cynical as you are, AP. Have you not seen the jihadi recruiting material? It’s at least as cheesy as this is, if a bit more um, darkish.
If there’s going to be an Iraqi nation, then there’s going to have to be an Iraqi people first. Patriotism is built; it doesn’t come naturally. It’s usually built through propaganda, in times of duress, and it’s rarely clever. Those on whom clever propaganda might have an effect usually either don’t need it, as they already see the need for unity, or reject it, as they have some vested interest in rejecting unity.
Stuff like this is to get to teenagers who might be thinking about getting work and little kids that might start talking about being an IP like kids talk about being firefighters.
spmat on March 12, 2007 at 8:37 AM
My husband went back to Iraq, for the fourth time, just over a week ago. I am glad to see this effort being made by the IP. It gives me hope.
BlueStateBlues on March 12, 2007 at 9:14 AM
Even I salute the IP. They have to try.
unamused on March 12, 2007 at 9:24 AM
But true. I am also glad to see, however, that they’re attempting to recruit. A wee bit cheesy, yes. Funny how the cop found one spare bullet on the ground, and killed two terrorists, when 15 bullets couldn’t get the job done. But, anywho….
amerpundit on March 12, 2007 at 9:25 AM
We gotta get ‘em better uniforms. And Names.
amerpundit on March 12, 2007 at 9:27 AM
The new Iraqi gov’t needs to do much, much more of this. Appeal to whatever motivates the population to want to take their country back from the terrorists. I, like, everyone else, want my loved ones to come home once the country is stable…the sooner, the better.
JustTruth101 on March 12, 2007 at 9:27 AM
The ad also doesn’t show dozens of them getting blown up by terrorists while they’re standing outside a police recruiting station. And then dozens more showing up at that same recruiting station the next day. Or having their families threatened for joining the IP. Or having to wear disguises and take alternate routes every day just to get to work, so the Mahdi goons have a harder time targeting them.
The IP is far from perfect, but they’re not all in Sadr’s pocket.
Bryan on March 12, 2007 at 9:43 AM
I love the “single bullet” bit.
georgej on March 12, 2007 at 9:49 AM
Obviously this ad is for the consumption of the Iraqi people, hence it shows the IP in a positive light. They are encouraging other men to come forward and planting a seed in the mind of the Iraqi youth, so that they might stand up against the enemy within when they become of age. Hundreds of Iraqi Police have already taken a bullet and died for their country. They are patriots in the truest sense of the word. It’s a great ad.
If there were such a last scene on film we can rest assured our MSM would not only air it, they would make it their lead story on the nightly news as part of their defeatist propaganda.
fogw on March 12, 2007 at 9:49 AM
Bill Ardolino posted the other day about what life is like for an IP officer in Fallujah. Insurgents shot up most of his family during an attack on the officer’s home.
Bryan on March 12, 2007 at 9:54 AM
Its a classic.
amerpundit on March 12, 2007 at 9:54 AM
I guess the glass is half empty for you?
That’s a great vid. It was obviously geared for ignorant 3rd world troglodyte’s and I’d bet dinars to quzi that it is very effective.
csdeven on March 12, 2007 at 1:29 PM
I thought that the video was sweet and uplifting, though, obviously, I can’t guess how the Iraqis might view it. Your cynical after comment, AP, is realistic, but as someone else said, not all of them can be in the terrorists’ pocket.
God speed to the IP.
baldilocks on March 12, 2007 at 1:56 PM
Comeon AP, we must always have hope.
Yea, it’s cheezy, even primitive. But, America did the same thing in the 60-70′s, and still do it today in a different form.
The message is ‘We make ya safe, we fight the criminal terrorists, we protect your children, we’re parents too, etc’
No matter. We must remember it’s a deeply cultural thing. The public is used to Saddam’s police, they’re not accustomed to dealing with ‘people friendly’ police. That is also an important message to people who wish to be police ‘Serve and Protect’ as Americans understand it is almost non-understandable to a people who grew up under: the police do whatever the Tyrant tells them to, without question.
Yes, even the ‘Winning of Hearts and Minds’ is cheezy, but in reality, that is what it’s going to take. We’re doing it, just takes time.
KeaponLaffin on March 12, 2007 at 4:51 PM
Fight Propaganda with Propaganda… the Republicans could learn from this.
Maxx on March 12, 2007 at 11:26 PM