Remember the federally funded ad campaign that discouraged drug use by claiming that drug money benefited terrorists? Syndicated newspaper columnist Arianna Huffington does, apparently, and she’s taken a page of the U.S. government’s book by launching ads of her own that accuse owners of gas-guzzling SUVs of abetting terrorists. Huffington teamed up with some like-minded folks in the entertainment industry to form the Detroit Project, which produced 30-second spots that will begin airing Sunday in major cities around the country. Detroit Project participant Lawrence Bender (who produced “Pulp Fiction” and “Good Will Hunting”) said the goal of the ads is “to point out how our driving habits at home are fueling oil money to Saudi Arabia — which funnels some of that wealth to support charities and religious zealots with ties to terrorist activity — and to Iraq, where Saddam Hussein invests the profits in weapons of mass destruction.” At least three television stations in major markets have rejected the ad, and it has drawn criticism from groups ranging from the Arab American Institute to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.
