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Iraqi Official to American Press: Report More Good
By Kathleen T. Rhem
American Forces Press Service
BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 20, 2004 Iraq's deputy prime minister implored the American press to provide more balanced coverage of operations in Iraq.
Barham Salih, a prominent leader from Kurdish northern Iraq, made his plea June 19 to American reporters traveling in Iraq with Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.
"I hope you from the American press will be able to tell people back home that (through) this mission you are giving an entire nation an opportunity to be rid of their challenges," he said.
"These soldiers are helping renovate schools and so on, and very, very little of that is reported," Salih continued. "We have to be grateful to those young men and women who have come from afar, sacrificing their lives to defend our security and our freedom."
He said context is important, and many American papers don't put things in the proper context. For instance, he said, "Many of the op-ed writers before the war predicted that Kirkuk would become the scene of the most vicious civil war," he said, referring to the northern Iraqi city that has been the site of problems between Kurds and Arabs.
"There are tensions in Kirkuk," he said, "but no civil war."
New Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawer explained his belief that 90 percent of what's happening in Iraq is good news, and 10 percent in bad. "The media is magnifying the 10 percent, ignoring the 90 percent," Yawer said.
He said the scandal surrounding detainee abuses at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison is a perfect example. The issue is clearer to people like him who have lived in the United States and understand American values, he said.
"I know this is outrageous to the American public (and) to the American administration as much as it is outrageous to the Iraqis," Yawer said.
But, he added, regular Iraqis "have been breastfed hatred to the United States and Great Britain for 45 years."
Yawer said he and other Iraqi leaders are working to acquaint the Iraqi people "with the real values of the American Bill of Rights and other great things you have in your constitution."
Originally posted by Hannitized
Even the Iraqis see our news being bias, yet half the Americans don't. Go figure!
For more than a month now, the news media have been filled with stories about the soldiers who perpetrated the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. People who get their news from ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, The New York Times and The Washington Post can be forgiven if they think the only soldiers in Iraq are Pvt. Lynndie England and Spc. Charles Graner. When is the last time you read a story about an American hero in Iraq?
I'm going to tell you about Pvt. Dwayne Turner, a medic with the 101st Airborne Division, because it's unlikely you will read about him anywhere else.
A year ago April, Turner's unit came under grenade and small arms attack about 30 miles south of Baghdad. Though he was wounded with shrapnel in both legs in the initial attack, Turner repeatedly exposed himself to hostile fire to drag wounded soldiers to shelter and to provide them with medical attention. He was shot twice more while treating 16 men, two of whom would have died were it not for his heroism. "No one is going to die on my watch," he said. He was awarded the Silver Star, the third highest decoration for valor.
You hear about the Englands and the Graners, but not about the Turners. Minneapolis Star-Tribune columnist James Lileks asked several liberal friends if they'd rather have Osama bin Laden captured and Bush re-elected, or Bush defeated and Osama still at large. They all said they'd prefer to have Bush defeated. That's a choice many in the news media made long ago.
Sickening!!!!!!!!Minneapolis Star-Tribune columnist James Lileks asked several liberal friends if they'd rather have Osama bin Laden captured and Bush re-elected, or Bush defeated and Osama still at large. They all said they'd prefer to have Bush defeated.
...What about 9/11 made you want to apologize? I had many emotions on 9/11, and after that day, but apologetic is not one that comes to mind.
So once again, in the fascinating realm of human disposition, we get to see types that defy definition.
You know, when you think about it, this situation we are facing is not all that weird. I have made the argument that this situation is analagous to the 1930's. And in some ways it is. Fortunately there are far more of the population that appear to be aware of the threat, then there were in the 1930's. It should be remembered that Churchill was almost utterly alone in his warnings about Hitler. However, I think this situation is more analagous to the late 1940's.
Once again, Churchill proved to be prescient in his warnings about the rise of Soviet Russia. Here we have the rise of Iranian nuclear power. We should keep in mind that the United States did not really consider the USSR much of a threat until the USSR detonated its nuclear weapon. And the USSR went from detonating its Nuke to being a dire threat, very, very, quickly.
If we would have turned on the Soviets in 1945 (Yes, I understand that this would have been highly problematic) we could have ended the cold war. We could have prevented 40+ years of staring down the barrel of Armageddon. We will have the foresight to stop it from happening again?
David Warren thinks not. I agree. Democracies, for all their positive attributes, remain remarkably short sighted. The American system is incredibly well designed to deflect the selfish interest of the electorate towards positive ends. However, this never overcame the shortsighted, reactionary, foreign policies of this country. Once again, it appears, we will not deal with the immediate threat. Instead, we will watch it grow until terminating it is neither easy nor fast.
As Michael Leeden says. Faster, please.
posted by pittspilot at 12:02 AM
