[Media-watch] The US media and Fallujah - Axis of Logic - 30/11/2004

[Julie-ann Davies]

http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_14026.shtml

30/11/2004

 How to Market a Siege: The US Media and Fallujah
 By MIKE WHITNEY,
Nov 30, 2004, 08:53

 Two weeks before the invasion of Falluja a car bomb was set off in front of 
the Al Arabiyya news facility in downtown Baghdad; 7 people were killed. The 
evening news dismissed the incident as a warning by insurgents to the Arab 
news channel to change the "pro-occupation" tone of their coverage.

Obviously, insurgents had nothing to do with the bombing. It was a 
"gangland-style hit" intended to put fear in the hearts of the Al Arabiyya 
reporters who would soon be covering the siege of Falluja. There's no doubt 
that anyone misunderstood the message that was being conveyed. The Allawi 
government has repeatedly scolded reporters for stories that have been 
critical of the occupation; threatening to punish or exile those who 
continue to offend. In the case of Al Aribiyya, this was just the first shot 
fired over the bow. Two weeks later their reporter was arrested in Falluja 
and hasn't been seen since.

Three months earlier, Al Jazeera was exiled from Iraq because its coverage 
did not follow a narrative that was acceptable to occupation authorities. Al 
Jazeera had already been bombed twice by US forces in both Baghdad and 
Kabul, so they knew the risks of providing a view of the conflict that was 
at variance to the one being seen on American TVs. Free speech is as 
unwelcome in today's Iraq as it was under Saddam, and its consequences are 
just as dire.

Last week two Sunni Clerics, members of the AMS, (Association of Muslim 
Clerics) were gunned down as they left their homes.(in separate incidents) 
The story has been successfully buried in western newspapers and it hasn't 
drawn much attention. In Iraq, however, the message is clear; anyone who 
speaks out against the occupation or the upcoming elections will be killed. 
The US is now using Mafia-style hit-teams to establish order and quash 
dissent.

No one in the western press has been reprimanded for their coverage, nor 
should they be. The concept of "embedding" reporters has worked like a 
charm. In fact, American journalists have demonstrated that they are not 
journalists at all, but an essential component of the military apparatus. 
They have merged seamlessly with their army units, presenting a story-line 
that is consistent with the objectives of the American occupation. The 
Pentagon believes that the role of "embedded" reporters is vital to winning 
the "information war"; a battle that's geared to sustain the support of the 
American people. Many of Rumsfeld's cadres still think that the Vietnam War 
was lost by the media. They argue that the presentation of the campaign in 
all its bloody aspects was intentionally tilted against American goals by a 
"liberal press". It's understandable then, that they would try to 
micro-manage every bit of information emerging from Iraq. In many ways, they 
have succeeded.

CBS coverage of the siege of Falluja proves this point. In the last week CBS 
has run numerous headline stories on Falluja; presenting the battle from 
different angles, but always the same perspective. The reports are always 
framed in a way that demonizes the Iraqi people and extols the worthiness of 
the American occupation. For example:

Day 1: large swaths of the city have been laid to waste and bodies are 
strewed in the streets. Rather than show details of the destruction, CBS 
focuses on a lone Backhoe slowly edging along a road scooping up rubble 
followed by 6 or 7 Marines with shovels. The subtext of the segment was 
"reconstruction in Falluja".

Day 2: CBS films an enormous weapons cache that Marines have uncovered.

Day 3: CBS provides footage of an "alleged" torture room, complete with 
blood-stained walls, and implements of abuse.

Day 4: CBS films "alleged" Terrorist safehouse (al Zarqawi?) replete with 
computer files of suspected terrorists and Al Qaida flag on the wall

Day 5: Segment covers an "alleged" chemical weapons lab, and alludes to the 
possibility of anthrax production. (Hans Blix later dismissed the report as 
"unlikely")

Day 6: Thanksgiving Day; plenty of heartwarming pictures of American 
warriors, relaxing after a hard week and reminiscing on home.

Day 7: CBS shows remains of 60 dead Iraqi Guardsman disinterred in the Mosul 
area.

CBS depiction of the war is no different than ABC, CNN, NBC or FOX. We can 
see from this brief summary of one week's news that American media is little 
more than the "information arm" of the US military. In every case, the 
events are shaped to create a favorable impression of our involvement. The 
allusions to weapons caches, anthrax labs and torture rooms are invoked to 
feed ethnic and racial hatred and to rationalize the horrific punishment we 
are visiting on the innocent civilians of Falluja.

The real story of Falluja is nowhere to be found in American media. 300,000 
people were expelled from the city so that the military could exact its 
revenge against the killers of four mercenaries. By all accounts, the city 
is in ruins; bodies left on the streets are bloated and some are being 
devoured by dogs. Those who chose to stay (many because they were invalid or 
afraid that their homes would be looted) were left for two weeks without 
food, water or electricity. Even now, the relief efforts of the Red Crescent 
have been stymied by the Marines; leaving many of the wounded without 
medical attention. Half of the city's mosques have been damaged or 
destroyed; roads and infrastructure have been laid to waste, and upwards of 
2,000 people have been killed. This is the real picture of Falluja; a 
picture that is scrupulously omitted from any mainstream newspaper or TV 
station in the country.

It's impossible to know when the American media morphed into the 
corporate-friendly bullhorn for aggression that it is today. But, we can say 
with certainty that the main outlets speak with one voice on the war in 
Iraq. Everything down to the labeling of the siege ("The Battle for 
Falluja") has been focus-group tested and picked up by all the main 
stations. In fact, there was no "Battle for Falluja"; it was a brutal siege 
in the same tradition as Germany's assault on Stalingrad.

Fortunately, many Americans have already begun to see through the smoke 
screen of media fabrications and deceptions. (55% of the American people now 
believe the war was a mistake.) Some of them surely realize that the 
battering of Falluja was an illegal and ruthless act of collective 
punishment condemned under international law and the Geneva Conventions. 
Already the question of "war crimes" is appearing with more and more 
frequency. Those crimes against humanity won't be mitigated by the "upbeat" 
footage from CBS or the "cheerful" record of military activities provided by 
America's "embedded" journalists.

Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He can be reached at: 
fergiewhitney at msn.com