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Reporting or distorting?
HOW do we evaluate the reports we are getting?
Are there others we may not be getting? Like
this one: “Sanwa ata Mosahra reporting. A film
crew from al-Minar TV, a television network of
Lebanon, stumbled across the bodies of about 40
U.S. soldiers scattered in the desert outside
Naseriah. Ali Fawsua, a cameraman for al-Minar,
said, “It was obvious the soldiers had been in a
major battle as there were empty ammunition
casing everywhere.
“We searched around but could not find any
dead Iraqi soldiers and must be thinking they
took their dead and injured away from the battle,”
he added. “We called on our satellite phone
to our base camp and told them what we had
found and they told the Americans where we
were located.
“Soon some American helicopters came to us
and the Americans took all our camera and
recording equipment and smashed it. They told
us to leave the area and say nothing of this finding.
When we arrived back at our base to the
south there were American military police
everywhere and they destroyed all of our equipment
and told us to leave Iraq immediately.”
“Al-Minar has lodged a complaint with the
IJCO and U.S. with a claim for compensation for
the many thousand dollars of destroyed equipment.”
I haven’t seen this report anywhere. Is it true?
We need more dissecting. Yes, I am willing to
share the role. We have yet to see anything on
TV like what The Guardian is doing to analyze
the claims and counter claims of what is actually
happening in Iraq. This is an important contribution
to journalists. Others can do it. Why don’t
BATTLEFIELD BLUES
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they? Check this out on The Guardian website,
MediaGuardian.co.uk.
Sorting claims and counter-claims
THE feature is called “When are facts, facts? Not
in a war,” by Chris Tryhorn. “‘Fog’” is beginning
to be the watchword of this war, with the lines
between fact and propaganda being blurred on a
daily basis. The demands of round-the-clock
news means military claims are being relayed
instantly to millions without being confirmed or
verified. Only to be refuted later by reporters on
the ground or by fresh military updates.
“In due course, questions will be asked about
the clashing interests of the military and the
media and the role of war propaganda in the pursuit
of a swift victory against Saddam’s regime.
“The worst example of false claims relates to
the battle to take control of Umm Qasr, the
southern Iraqi deep-sea port and one of the key
targets in the early war. On Sunday afternoon, it
had been “taken” nine times. By Sunday night
there were still ugly skirmishes between coalition
forces and irregulars loyal to Saddam operating
out of the old town. Umm Qasr was not, in
fact, taken until Tuesday.”
Chemical weapons factory:
Now you see it, now you don’t
“MONDAY, March 24, 1:33 am. Reports surface
that U.S. forces find first cache of Saddam’s
chemical and biological weapons, seizing a suspected
chemical factory in An Najaf. This would
be a significant PR coup for Messrs Bush and
Blair who justified their launch of war on the
grounds that Saddam had weapons of mass