What it's like

Someone is airing an incredible anti-suicide bomber ad in the Middle East. But who?

A TV commercial aimed at thwarting terrorism has hit Middle Eastern TV networks using high-tech effects to show the anatomy of a suicide bombing in graphic detail. The US$1 million (€800,000) ad is packed with special effects including the time-suspension technique made popular in the "Matrix" movies to show bodies, cars and broken glass flying in slow motion through the air.

Its sleekness, and the secrecy surrounding its creators and backers, lead some to believe the U.S. government is behind it in its effort to woo would-be terrorists away from violence and encourage moderates to take a forthright stand against extremism.

The U.S. government refuses to say clearly whether it's involved in the commercial, which began airing this summer on Al-Arabiya, Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. and several Iraqi channels at a time when violence was raging in Baghdad and between Hezbollah and Israel.

...

The 60-second ad opens with a young boy seeing a man walk by in a crowded market. The man stops and exposes yellow explosives strapped to his body. The boy sees the bombs just before they go off, sending cars flying and people crashing through the windows of a cafe.

The ad then shows the aftermath: wreckage, weeping and fires. It ends with the words "Terrorism has no religion" in Arabic.

I hope it is our government sponsoring this sort of ad and though I don't think it will stop any wannabee suicide bombers, I do hope that there will, at least, be a shift in opinion among the people that sympathize with the monsters.

Watch the ad here (under "Suicidal Terror" though the other ad with the mom is great too).