Military Review English Edition July-August 2014 | Page 68

people who were able to watch Al Jazeera
and be inspired by the example of others is a
remarkable achievement.7
Laudatory comments from senior U.S. officials
in the State Department and Congress now seem to
represent the opinions of a growing number of leaders—including some military leaders in the Pentagon
and forward deployed around the world.
While assigned to NATO Training MissionAfghanistan from August 2010 until November 2011,
I noticed many senior leaders preferring the Al Jazeera
English channel over CNN (Cable News Network)
or BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation)—the
latter two having been the dominant cable television
news choices during my deployment to Iraq in 2006
and 2007. In spite of Al Jazeera’s growing credibility
and popularity among service members, DOD leaders seem to remain averse to engaging Al Jaze \