While watching the Daily Show last week, I caught an interview of Josh Rushing who really made me stop and think about how quick we are to judge things in America. I had heard of the al Jazeera news broadcasting al Qaeda tapes and thought that they were merely an arm of the terrorist group. Funny how when anything is associated with an Arab name, we immediately think of terrorism. It just goes to show how far we have to go in our education and acceptance of global cultures. I guess it’s because as Americans we are fairly isolated from the rest of the world. In Europe you go 100 miles and you’re in another country and culture. So what caught my attention with this particular interview?

First of all, Josh Rushing is no extremist or anti-war activist, or for that matter anti-American journalist. He is a former Marine who served as a public relations specialist in Duho, Qatar, during the beginning of the Iraq War. Here is where the war propaganda began, at Central Command or otherwise more commonly known as CentCom. Rushing was called upon many times by all the major media–ABC, CNN, Fox News, etc. whenever they wanted inside info on what was going on in the war. But every time al Jazeera asked him for an interview, his commanders told him no way.

Rushing saw the ignorance in this “isolationist” policy when there was a report of a Mosque being attacked by U.S. soldiers. Al Jazeera immediately went to work to determine the truth of the story. So they began interviewing Arabs at the site who all excitedly reported that for no reason, the U.S. soldiers just began firing on the Mosque. In order for al Jazeera to get their fair and balanced news as they have been known for all over the world, they went to every U.S. communications level to find out what the American’s side of the story was. At every turn, the commanders refused to talk to al Jazeera. The real story unbeknownst to al Jazeera was that the soldiers were being fired upon by insurgents inside the Mosque, so they, in self-defense, fired back. Since they couldn’t get the American’s story, they were forced to print the Arab tale in which Americans are portrayed in a very bad light.

Rushing’s position was that since we don’t give interviews, our side of the story will never get out and our image and reputation will continue to be damaged. But the commanders were so set against al Jazeera that they continued their boycott. Well, the rest is history as they say.

After, watching this titillating interview and being impressed by the cool composure of a man who the Pentagon basically labels a traitor, I decided to buy Rushing’s book called Mission al Jazeera. The book was surprisingly refreshing because what I thought was going to be a highly critical expose against the U.S. military, and the Pentagon in particular, it was actually a very polished and objective review of how we got where we are. In our world of highly partisan and extreme views on the war and terrorism, his viewpoints just made sense. The man has credibility in my book.

What is intriguing is that this is a man, who for all intents and purposes, lived to be a Marine. He was proud to be a Marine and serve his country. It was in his family and in his blood. But after being a witness to all the political and military machinations of the truth in Iraq, he came to realize that the country he loved so much just may have an agenda that he couldn’t condone. So, he began giving interviews with the Arab press which eventually landed him an unintended starring roll in the war documentary called The Control Room. When his commanders found out about the controversy, they attempted to silence him by telling him he could no longer give interviews. After they went so far as to involve his family in the shenanigans, he resigned his commission with the Marines and walked away.

In looking for a post-military civilian job, he sort of stumbled around for a while trying to get his footing when al Jazeera offered him a journalist position with their new al Jazeera English media headquartered three blocks from the White House. (Funny how ironic that is.) Rushing was delighted to be a part of such a professional, fair and balanced media who, all over the world, is a respected source of news. To check out al Jazeera English, go here.

Most of the book is about his path in the military and what happened behind the scenes at CentCom to manipulate the truth in Iraq or as he calls it, reporting in shades of gray. But what I found the most interesting was the truth behind al Jazeera English which is a global media outlet that prides itself on its professional reporting of the news. I guess what Americans don’t like is that anything Arabic just gets under our skin. If we are ever to enter the global theater as a true Super Power with credibility and integrity, we need to start looking at the rest of the world through different glasses. And, we need to stop making knee-jerk judgments of other cultures. I am just as guilty of the next person but my eyes may have been opened by a former jarhead known as Josh.