Whatever Al Hurra was intended for, it is not working. One can imagine how the original proposal must have sounded, framed in senatorial language and advanced by the most assiduous officials in Washington. Someone somewhere said, That‘s a good idea. And when the subject of Al Hurra came up back home, defending it to the congressmen’s constituency even had a “common sense” ring to it: a U.S.-backed Arab satellite television network. Counter the ideological influence of Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya programming and give Arabs a different point of view that caters to their interests. Win the war in Arab minds instead of in the streets of Baghdad. Ideas, not bullets.

It could work.

But it isn’t. And the more you learn about it, the more you wonder, why did anyone ever think it could?

Since last November, the newest of the Al stations has featured content so vituperative toward the United States, it’s as if the screaming masked men themselves are manning its producer desks. Al Hurra has cast Holocaust denial panels in a favorable light, given air time to al Qaeda terrorists to celebrate the “defeat” of the United States on September 11, and infamously featured a speech by Hezbollah boss Hassan Nasrallah, live and in its entirety—over an hour.

Questioned by a House committee on the fruits of 70 million taxpayer dollars spent to provide young Arabs with a channel advancing freedom and an open mind, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Hezbollah speech lasted 30 minutes, “followed by commentary, much of which was critical of Nasrallah.”

Technically, Secretary Rice was partly right. After 68 minutes of terrorist propaganda, Al Hurra aired a 13-minute telephone interview with a Lebanese government official who criticized Nasrallah of not being anti-American and anti-Israeli enough.

The secretary, and many of those legislators and officials in Washington who supported the network, could very well be ignorant of what is actually on the air in the Middle East. The network’s top officials don’t speak Arabic, and English transcripts are only available upon request. Perhaps Secretary Rice received an edited document.

These troubling shortcomings, as well as the notorious lack of oversight by its Broadcasting Board of Governors, seem to have come in the doors and uploaded to Al Hurra transponders at precisely the same time as Larry Register, a former cnn producer, came to Washington to take over the position of news director from Lebanese-born Muslim Mouafac Harb.

Under Harb, Al Hurra covered the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and interviewed Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. Ironically, curiously and perhaps unpardonably, Register was responsible not only for Nasrallah’s interview but also for undeniably favorable coverage of the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad-led Holocaust denial conference, portraying participants’ claims as legitimate and open-minded.

Whether from ignorance, ineptitude, malfeasance or all three, Al Hurra has become today’s symbol of America’s failed dream: to export itself. One is reminded of the Palestinian parliament, or the streets of Baghdad, where democracy seeps out of crushed crates marked “Damaged goods: return to sender.”

Educator Herbert W. Armstrong (1892-1986) taught that assumption is one of the most dangerous mistakes to make. Washington assumes Arabia wants the same things the average suburban American wants. It assumes enough bullets, dollars, and hours in front of the television will eventually turn hateful Muslims into well-tanned grill-masters and soccer moms.

Don’t hold your breath.