It was reported in the news today that the Al Qaeda may have opened a Southeast Asian branch and that it has, as a gesture of goodwill, published on its website a rambling 41,000 word declaration of war against unbelievers.  One particularly friendly statement from that declaration reads : "the swords of the holy warriors are always thirsty for your blood".

How charming.

Sometimes I wonder if all these reports about terrorists in true.  I wonder if I’m living in some sort of North Korean-esque society where the propaganda is so well orchestrated that only one version - that Communist state’s version - of the "truth" is read by the populace.  And so the North Koreans are led to think that everyone in the world, except them, are starving and living under the oppressive yoke of capitalist governments.  (Happily for the North Koreans, smuggled VCDs of South Korean soap operas like "Autumn in My Heart" and "Summer Scent", have opened their eyes to what is actually happening outside of their country.  Unhappily for me, Joyce tries to make me watch the awfully boring stuff).

Yeah … maybe I am the victim of a well-orchestrated misinformation campaign to make me believe that the Al Qaeda is a blood thirsty organisation, when its members are in fact whale-loving, tree-hugging activists.  And so I suppose that those Jordanians who think that the hotel bombings allegedly carried out by al-Zarqawi were actually carried out by the Israeli Mossad would also be right.