An Afghan girl in Helmand province led a typically sheltered life of the strict Muslim culture in the area. To reach such inhabitants of the remote area, the British resorted to dropping leaflets and succeeded in reaching the girl directly. She was reportedly crushed by a box of public information leaflets dropped by the British Royal Air Force. The drops have been used to either warn residents of the dangers of unexploded bombs or as part of “psychops” missions to “win the hearts and minds” of the population. This includes the standard leaflet below asking girls to think about their future.
The British Ministry of Defense has called the case “highly regrettable,” a position that appears a bit understated.
The RAF explains that “[s]adly one of the boxes failed to fully open” and the 40-pound box crushed the girl.
One of the common leaflets dropped in the area reads “Is this the future you want for your women and children?” Answer would appear to be no. Crushing the population of girls from the air is probably not the future that most want to embrace in the province.
Condolences to the family.
Now if someone could explain to me the genius reasoning behind dropping leaflets on a nation where at best only 1 in 3 can read them.
Stel,
May I suggest that in the US that is not a bad statistic.
May I also add that, and this is the first time that I had ever noticed that propaganda by aerial leafleting was in Nazi Germany in order to win the citizen over:
Nazi Propaganda
“All propaganda has to be popular and has to adapt its spiritual level to the perception of the least intelligent of those towards whom it intends to direct itself.”
-Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”), Vol. I
Link: http://library.thinkquest.org/C0111500/ww2/german/naziprop.htm
Either we have copied the master or Hitler was the master propagandist. Either way it has been around to the best of my knowledge since WWII. I even think that the American cause started dropping counterfeit currency as well. America give it the all when they want to destroy the economy, government and citizens.
Another FYI: We have not won 1 war since the DOW was changed to the DOD. Think about that.
Can’t win hearts and minds if you bash the brains.
Can we PLEASE bring our troops home? All of them? How much more must we dishonor the oaths they took through permitting our leadership to use them as pawns in too many crusades?
Welcome to our Christofascist Technocracy. Now learn this ad jingle or ELSE.
Interesting AY, the part about the DOW and DOD. Nice little piece of historical trivia..
Tangentially, Dod Dow is also the name of a Scottish artist.
http://www.doddow.com
The English and Americans are doing all of this for Israel and World Jewry.