General Kimmit’s comments were uttered in a live CNN feed at a regular news briefing in Iraq and there would have been no time for editing^[1]. This sort of response opens up the need for serious questioning about news censorship and the avoidance of unpleasant or unwanted news by the dominant news groups in the West. There is also the need to question selective viewing and the preference to simply ‘change the channel” when the news offends or does not accord with what the public is “allowed” to see.

There is a worrying disparity in news reporting from main news media sources and news from within Iraq itself. Reports from Baghdad and Fallujah by independent sources and journalists tell a very different story to the anesthetized and ideological versions of many of the main news distributors. Why are we not seeing the scores of refugees killed on the road from Fallujah, or the appalling conditions, or the other atrocities taking place in the town? Is there a conspiracy of silence on the part of the main Western media groups? To what extent is the media “aligned to the Bush Administration”, as one US citizen and close observer of events in the region, contends.

Events taking place in Fallujah, as well as in other cities in Iraq, are of crucial importance for an understanding of the developing crisis in the country and the region. Many critics from within Iraq have openly accused the US forces of “genocide” in Fallujah; and many reports of civilian deaths and casualties indicate that this accusation may have some foundation.

Yet what has been described by many reputable observers as a radical watershed in the conflict in Iraq is being callously portrayed by the main media and the Bush administration as a minor hiccup on the way to democracy. However, there have been exceptions in some media reports that intimate a general concern about events in Iraq, but up to now, the reporting has not dealt responsibly with the images of obvious carnage and the murder of women and children by US forces in Fallujah.

While the major news sources present a bland and watered-down version of events, reports from within Iraq are very different in tone and content. The following is an extract from some recent postings in the respected Iraqi Web log Baghdad Burning.

“The American and European news stations don't show the dying Iraqis; they don't show the women and children bandaged and bleeding, the mother looking for some sign of her son in the middle of a puddle of blood and dismembered arms and legs. They don't show you the hospitals overflowing with the dead and dying because they don't want to hurt American feelings-but people should see it. You should see the price of your war and occupation-it's unfair that the Americans are fighting a war thousands of kilometers from home. They get their dead in neat, tidy caskets draped with a flag and we have to gather and scrape our dead off of the floor and hope the American shrapnel and bullets left enough to make a definite identification.”^[2]

The reportage continues with very disturbing scenes of civilian carnage and cruelty. For example, people are being buried in the town football field because “they aren't allowed near the cemetery” and pregnant women are not allowed access to medical care. There are numerous descriptions of bodies decomposing in the heat and the targeted killings of ambulance drivers in Fallujah. The question that is being asked in Iraq, and elsewhere, as a result of these mainly independent reports, is whether the United States has other motives than the usual repetition in the media of the desire to “save Iraq for democracy”. Reports are accumulating that severely contradict these orthodox platitudes uttered by the Bush Administration.

The question that demands to be answered is why the American public in this Information Age are not fully aware of the reality of the situation in Fallujah. The death toll in Fallujah at the last count is close to 800, with many hundreds of women and children among the dead. Even worse than this are the descriptions of children being murdered on the road from Fallujah as they try to escape the fighting. A further comment from the Iraqi Web log Baghdad Burning describes the devastation taking place in Fallujah. “Refugees are being shot at and bombed on a regular basis; we're watching the television and crying. The hospital is overflowing with victims-those who have lost arms and legs, those who have lost loved ones. There isn't enough medicine or bandages…what are the Americans doing? This is collective punishment…is this the solution to the chaos we're living in? Is this the ‘hearts and minds' part of the campaign? “^[3]

Baghdad Burning is by no means the only source of independent news or information not associated with established media groups; there are many other sources that verify these scenes of carnage and death.

"Dead bodies are lying in the streets. Ambulances are being shot at by snipers. Medical aid and supplies have been stopped by US occupation forces," a statement from the NGOs said. The thousands of families who remain trapped in Fallujah are running out of basic necessities like food and potable water. Hospitals and medical staff are overwhelmed, and are asking desperately for blood, oxygen and antiseptics."^[4]

The thousands of families who remain trapped in Fallujah are running out of basic necessities like food and potable water

Many sources also point out that the media is not reporting the scale of events and tends to reduce the situations to isolated incidents. Referring to a recent report in the BBC, which designates the recent events as “unrest”, another well-known Web log states that this view is “one hell of an understatement; the grim truth, however, is that the occupying powers are now facing insurrections of varying strength in almost every big city in Iraq. Yet they are still not confronting that truth."^[5]

The fact that reports of actual events are coming from Web logs and independent sources is also indicative of the state of the mainstream media. It is not surprising that independent researchers and journalists are starting to command more respect for their veracity and sincerity than mainstream media.

One of the most respected news and insight sources on Iraq is a Web log run by Juan Cole, a professor of history at the University of Michigan, entitled Informed Content. Cole stresses that the present situation is much more serious than is being presented in the media and that it is engendering a growing hatred of the United States that will be very difficult to rectify. According to Cole, “the degree of hatred for the United States in the Muslim world is growing by the minute as the events in Fallujah are broadcast throughout the region. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's warning to Bush that by invading Iraq he would be creating a hundred Bin Laden’s may well comes to pass.” Cole also quotes Iraqi reactions to the attack on Fallujah, which have not been portrayed in most mainstream media sources.

“Old-time Sunni nationalist leader Adnan Pachachi thundered on al- Arabiya television, "It was not right to punish all the people of Fallujah, and we consider these operations by the Americans unacceptable and illegal." For him to go on an Arab satellite station much hated by Donald Rumsfeld, and denounce the very people who appointed him to the IGC is a clear act of defiance”.^[6]

The press reports that the “insurgents” in Fallujah are isolated troublemakers are contradicted by a US journalist’s firsthand account of the situation in the town.

“He reports on a city under the gun of US snipers, with intentional targeting of ambulances and the death of women and children. His conclusion? That Fallujah's fighters are supported and fully representative of the people there, and that nothing could have been easier than gaining the goodwill of the people of Fallujah had the Americans not been so brutal in their dealings. Now, a tipping-point has been reached. Fallujah cannot be saved from its mujaheddin unless it is destroyed.^[7]

From many sources, it seems that a huge and tragic mistake has been made in recent US actions in Iraq. It is an error of judgment against humanity that will have profound implications, particularly for American citizens in the future-citizens who are not receiving the correct information about events from their government and media.

Despite the media’s reticence to portray the truth, not all Americans are unaware of the true situation in Iraq. Many are acutely aware, astounded and angry at the secrecy and clandestine way in which their future is being threatened. One such citizen is Jack Dalton, a patriotic and concerned American who is also a Vietnam War veteran. He has seen through the smoke and mirrors of the US government and states that the mainstream media “is aligned with the Bush Administration”. The fact that so much news is excluded or filtered reveals the bias in the media. He substantiates this with the following comment:

“Some years back, William Colby, former Director of the CIA, stated, “the CIA owns everyone of significance in the major media.” That statement pretty much sums up the reality of why what is happening in Iraq is not being factually reported by the U.S. media”.

Dalton also clearly outlines the efforts to sanitize the media to prevent Americans from knowing the truth:

“ With people being “taught” to be “positive” and not “negative” and to look for the good, well, this has more than just a little to do with what does or does not get reported and how. We can see this in the sanitized version the media presents to us as “news.” Fallujah is a perfect example. The death toll of children and women makes bad “copy” here so they do not disseminate it”.

Dalton also sees a clear link between the media and the Bush administration. “The media, by avoiding factual and truthful reporting is an absolute participant in the creation of “manufactured consent”, at the same time propagating and supporting the “necessary illusions” of and by the Bush cabal”.

The main media groups are not reporting the truth of many events taking place in Iraq. This presents a number of very serious issues. Not only does this threaten the veracity and respect previously given to the main sources of news in the USA and Europe, but it also questions the link between politics and news reporting. The ultimate danger lies in a lack of knowledge. Unless they question the news that they are being fed, the American public may find that “changing the channels” will not be enough to keep reality from seeping in.

* Gary Smith is a freelance journalist and researcher based in South Africa. His special field of research is the situation in Iraq. You can reach him at gary@imaginet.co.za

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