Taliban's "Cookie Cutter" Propaganda?

[The Bread Guy]

Someone far wiser than me (thanks Old Sweat) pointed something out in this posting:
http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/80971/post-778488.html#msg778488
Note the similarities between the two accounts (highlighting mine - from official Taliban translations):

Friday night  14-11-2008 at approximately 11:03pm local time , Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,with remote controlled landmine blew up a military tank of Canadian occupation army when it was travelling in near bazaar of Mewand district of Kandahar province. In the  explosion the tank was completely destroyed and 4 Canadian occupation terrorists in it were killed. ....

Friday afternoon 14-11-2008 at approximatly 4:00pm local time, Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,with remote controlled landmine blew up a military tank of British occupation army when it was travelling in Sabgib district of Helmand province. In the  explosion the tank was completely destroyed and 4 British occupation terrorists in it were killed ....

From further back....
1 Nov 08:
Saturday afternoon 01-11-2008 at approximately 3:30 pm local time, Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, with remote controlled landmines blew up a foot patrolling unit of Canadian invaders army in Rostamkariz area of Arghastan district of Kandahar province. In explosion the tank was distroyed, 4 Canadian soldiers terrorists in it were killed.

And a bit of adjective action here (underlined) on 3 Nov 08
Sunday morning  03-11-2008, Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,with remote controlled landmine blew up 1 military tank of NATO occupation army when it was travelling Sorkhsang area Arghandab district of Zabul province. In the  explosion the tank was completely destroyed and 5 American occupation terrorists in it were killed.. 

Off the top of my head, they may be using a template or boilerplate text they cut/paste into place, with dates, times, nationalities and places updated - this theory, in spite of the typo difference (underlined above).

Any other theories?

 

[Nfld Sapper]

Give yourself a cookie there Tony (no pun intended) I think you might be onto something.

 

[The Bread Guy]

The cookie belongs to Old Sweat, not me, but thanks nonetheless...

 

[Nfld Sapper]

The cookie belongs to Old Sweat, not me, but thanks nonetheless...

Heck then one for each of you

 

[gun runner]

Truly an interesting piece of investigation! Congrats on the detective work... and keep it up. it would be interesting to find out if this is true accounts of activity, or merely propaganda to instigate reaction?!? Good work guys. Ubique

 

[Old Sweat]

Take a look at today's examples. Note they are both reported by the same informant, Qari Muhammad Yousuf, and are following the same format. It reminds me a bit of the serials on a signals exercise, where a student would be told to send serial xx at such and such a time, just filling in a few details to conform to the local conditions.

Quote
Friday night 14-11-2008 at approximately 8:00pm local time, Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,with remote controlled landmine blew up a military tank of Canadian occupation army when it was travelling in Perozi area of Kandahar city.  In the explosion the tank was completely destroyed and 4 Canadian occupation terrorists in it were killed.  Also Saturday noon 15-11-2008 at approximately 11:20 am local time ,Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, ambushed puppet army patrol in Khaki Chopan area of Maewand district of Kandahar province. In the attack the vehicle was destroyed and all puppet terrorists were killed.Reported by Qari Muhammad Yousuf


"1 tank of NATO invaders blew up in Zabul"

Quote
Friday afternoon 15-11-2008, Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,with remote controlled landmine blew up a military tank of NATO occupation army when it was travelling in Khaki Afghan district of Zabul province. In the explosion the tank was completely destroyed and 4 NATO occupation terrorists in it were killed. Reported by Qari Muhammad Yousuf
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[The Bread Guy]

My guess is that they probably use English templates/boilerplate because it's easier translating locations, times and dates than writing something in Pushtu, then translating the WHOLE text to English (esp. when English isn't your first language).

 

[brave little soldier]

[ :



I found that post very interesting and googled Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Authorities : please note that I am not a terrorist... I was just curious to see what Taliban Propaganda looks like...

Now I'm in trouble...  :-[

 

[Old Sweat]

So you claim.

Vee haf vays und means ov making you talk.

 

[brave little soldier]

Vee haf vays und means ov making you talk.

: Is this a German accent ? Not that I have something against the Gestapo but... gee... am I in trouble again ?  :blotto:

 

[gun runner]

Are you in trouble again...Ja, unt now vee vant you to verk in zee labour camps until you drop!!! Silly Canadian soldier!!  Ubique

 

[The Bread Guy]

[ :



I found that post very interesting and googled Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Authorities : please note that I am not a terrorist... I was just curious to see what Taliban Propaganda looks like...

Now I'm in trouble...  :-[

Only if you're surfing from a GoC system, right? 

 

[Drag]

I bet they "destroyed" every single tank in NATO 3 times over already

 

[brave little soldier]

Are you in trouble again...Ja, unt now vee vant you to verk in zee labour camps until you drop!!! Silly Canadian soldier!!  Ubique

Pssst...  :-X I think this man is a spy...

 

[The Bread Guy]

Further evidence the Taliban appear to use "cookie cutter" templates for their English statement claiming responsibility for attacks.....

Check here....
http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/82556/post-803736.html#msg803736
....how much more detail the Arabic versions (albeit imperfectly translated via Google Translator) go into compared to the English versions - types of weapons seized, not just total numbers,

or here.....
http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/82556/post-804050.html#msg804050
with, again, more details in the Arabic version re:  weapons seized, and history of the area ("It should be noted that the three years since the British armed forces control the status of the Directorate of Nmas only, and that the rest of the neighboring areas in the control of the Mujahideen, and was surrounded by the enemy occupied all the roads and air to be financed." in second item).

 

[The Bread Guy]

In case you need more proof English may not even be the Taliban translators' first language....
http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/84333/post-817275.html#msg817275

"Today morning 02-03-2009  at approximately 8 am local time, Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in gorilla attack killed puppet intelligence service official in 5th number of Kandahar city , in the attack the official was the small brother of comando chief of Kandahar province.  Reported by Qari Yousuf Ahmadi"

 

[The Bread Guy]

A bit more evidence of the Taliban's "cookie cutter" approach to English translation:

“Today afternoon at 4:10pm 15-04-2009, Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan fired 2 mortars at Kandahar airport , where a large number of US and Canadian invaders live the damages and casualties were not reported. Reported by Qari Tousuf Ahmadi.” 
"Rocket attack on airbase in Kandahar 15/4/09," Voice of Jihad via anti-imperialist.info web forum, retrieved 15 Apr 09 at http://www.anti-imperialist.info/vb/showthread.php?t=10371 .

versus

“Today afternoon at 1:45pm 22-04-2009, Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan fired 2 mortars at Kandahar airport , where a large number of US and Canadian invaders live the damages and casualties were not reported. Reported by Qari Tousuf Ahmadi”
"2 mortars fired at Kandahar airport," Voice of Jihad web page, retrieved 22 Apr 09 at http://alemarah1.org/english/english-6-22-04-2009.html .