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EMBEDDED: WEAPONS OF MASS DECEPTION
Monte Carlo in Arabic (a French radio station)
was the best and even they seemed confused
about what to report and what not to report...
The media tore us apart. We didn’t know what
was happening and half the information on the
air was false. I can’t even get my thoughts
together at this point. I spent sleepless nights listening
to the radio and wanting to throttle someone
– a reporter, someone . . . I couldn’t believe
there were so many blatant lies and what was
worse was that the casualties were ignored – like
they never happened or blamed on the Iraqis . . .
unbelievable.
We were confused in the beginning as to who
to believe... who should we believe? Our media
was horrid and weak– you’d think that a country
so experienced with war would be better at war
media . . . the days I felt truly lost began on April
6 . . . our Iraqi media just faded out. Our radio station
(which was travelling on wheels at the time)
was almost gone and instead of it, was some
American military media – a rigid, mechanic
voice that scared me silly . . . I’ll never be able to
describe the feeling. I read the part about Peter
Arnett. I got to see him in a university in Baghdad
a couple of weeks before the war. The
moment I saw him, the reality of our situation hit
home – if Peter Arnett was in town, the bombs
are going to start flying. I know he’s a great journalist
and is admired but he’s an omen.
You mentioned Al-Jazeera’s Diar Al-Omari
and Taysir being kicked out of Baghdad or something
– I remember that. I think they said the
reason behind their expulsion was because during
a press conference with Taha Yassin, all the
media people were asked not to bring in mobile
phones for security reasons and the Al-Jazeera
crew ignored that and began speaking on their
290
phone or something...
And there’s so much more... so much more.
People keep writing to me and asking me to
put the past behind and start working for the
future... I can’t seem to do that because I see the
lies on a daily basis and it kills me that the
majority of the world seem so blind to the truth
and atrocities are being covered up on a daily
basis. Thank you for clearing up so much of the
smoke – I hope everyone reads your book.
I hope one day you collaborate with a psychologist
and write a book on the affects of media on
the people on the other side – like the Iraqis.
People wonder why the Iraqis are so skeptic of
everything around them – why they find it hard
to believe the promises being made by Bush and
Co. It’s because we got to see the BS firsthandwe
lived through the lies and sometimes laughed
at them and often found ourselves cursing,
yelling and beating the poor radio with frustration
. . .
I just want to tell you that your book is amazing.
I hope it sells 3 million copies and that it
becomes required reading everywhere. Not for
your sake, for our sake and the sake of all the
ignorant people out there. I don’t know how
many fans you have – or how many you will eventually
have but I mean every single word. I lived
through that incredible lie.
Thank you.
Riverbend
DOCUMENTING THE DECEPTION
WHEN I began this book, the war was getting
underway. While there were many activists questioning
the policy, only a few were challenging
the media – or even recognizing the central role