Reynolds often invites scorn by rather juvenile coded messages that ignore the point of the blogosphere–pointing towards the original source. Often this is followed by a descent into more juvenile jibes being thrown about. The problem is that when he does say things that are absurd, too many names are being called.
Here he argues that humanitarian aid is apparently of no use to projecting America abroad. The money qu0te is:
It doesn’t matter if you’re a humanitarian: you’re still just a target to these people.
Well, unless these people are all of the Arab/Muslim world there are a lot of those other people to impact and turn into allies on the side of human dignity. Apparently, after Murray was defended by say, people who have actually studied Al Qaeda, there had to be another way to smear Murray and just throwing up his hands and saying humanitarian aid was pointless was the method for Reynolds.
The real question for the US is how do he aid in developing democratic institutions in the Middle East and what tools will most help such a process. Humanitarian aid, infrastructure and other social services don’t solve the problem alone, but they do build up good will and civil society. Good will provides fewer recruits and fewer places to hide for violent Islamists. Strong civil societies lead to greater freedom.
Or you can just be a knee jerk know nothing. Everyone has a choice, I guess.