US Media Guilty in Falluja By Mike Whitney

US Media Guilty in Falluja

By Mike Whitney

Al-Jazeerah, November 30, 2004

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 TV was exiled from Iraq because its
coverage did not follow a narrative that was acceptable to occupation
authorities. Al Jazeera TV 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.

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

Apartheid Wall


The Israeli Land-Grab Apartheid Wall built inside the Palestinian territories, here separating Abu Dis from occupied East Jerusalem. (IPC, 7/4/04).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python. (Alquds,10/25/03).

Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah's.

editor@aljazeerah.info