Remember that story early in the war about the Iraqis attacking an Al-Jazeera van and destroying it and wounding its crew? CNN barely covered it, but the Iraqis I have spoken to recently said they are sick and tired of the "old" Arab media (which strangely enough includes Al-Jazeera to them) reporting only the negatives and ignoring the progress they've made and the fact that for many, things are better...they see this as other Arabs trying to stir up trouble in "their" country. And they resent it.
They want Al-Jazeera and Manar out of there, and they want to get on rebuilding their country themselves, thank you very much. They don't need those guys making it worse by running erroneous and unretracted stories like the one a few weeks back about US soldiers raping Iraqi girls-- and thereby bringing even more violence. They want a new country. And, despite Amahnpour et al's statements, while broadcasting the "news", that "Iraqis want the US out of there NOW!" the only scientific polls done in Iraq so far have shown that the vast majority DO NOT want the US to leave any time soon. They know the bloodbath that will ensue-- but they also know the good that can possibly follow the hard task of rebuilding.
Yes, they have every right to complain about things being better under Saddam, because right now that's true. Things were better in Germany under Hitler until about 1948-49, and people were taking potshots at US soldiers in Japan and Germany well past a year after the "end of hostilities."
But the vast majority of the country-- IMO and the opinions of those I've spoken to-- has calmed down dramatically and is now going about the unglamorous task of Fixing It All. People here are going to Basra and trying to start up small businesses. One guy I was supposed to meet last week had already returned to Baghdad to start up his business and be with his family...
Again, feel free to share :-) Just one view, of course, but I'm surprised how much the last one resonated around the net.
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Article comments
1 - Brian Flemming
From CalPundit (emphasis mine):
2 - Robert Moates
"In any case, there's no way of knowing whether news from Iraq is slanted unless you yourself happen to know how things are going."
At that point you should have stopped. But no, you had to go on, call people scoundrels and opine that things must be very bad because we hear very bad things. You say, "the media behavior in Baghdad is no different than their behavior in Los Angeles" perhaps that is the problem. Baghdad is different than LA. A shooting in Baghdad is not the same as a shooting in LA. Or are we suggesting that the police pull out of LA? (Sorry that was uncalled for)
Fact is that if things are going well in 85% of Iraq then we would expect that a relative number of stories would reflect the same. What that number is I don't know. But it should not be inversely proportional. If it is, something else is going on.
3 - Brian Flemming
Interesting conversation at pbs.org between a person who has visited Iraq and a person who hasn't.
4 - Eric Olsen
A) I'm not sure why I should care what kevin Drum said about this unless he himself chose to visit.
B) it all comes down to emphasis, which I mentioned in the story intro, and to emphasize the bad news disproportionately to the good news (or even the just "not bad" news) distorts the picture. I also said it isn't even a question of left vs right, or pro- vs anti-war, it's a question of giving an honest feel of the atmosphere on the ground.
That's what I have been trying to do with these reports from the scene.
5 - Joe
Brian, am I to infer that you feel that either proximity (has or hasn't been to Iraq) or military experience (chickenhawk!) are qualifiers to having a valid opinion on the subject of Iraq? If so, would you care to share your credentials with the group.
6 - Joel Andrews
Medea basically learned this in Iraq:
"it's a disaster, people don't have electricity, water, garbage collection, sewage collection, jobs."
After that she only repeats the mantra endlessly.
By simply reading this you have now been to Iraq, too!
Usually when I go someplace, I try to pick up a little more information. Makes me wonder if it was an airport layover or something. Maybe a drink at the bar in the Palestine.