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"Iraq stories moved to the inside pages of newspapers, and largely off TV screens," said Krugman
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CAIRO,
August 6 (IslamOnline.net) - The only effect the so-called power
transfer in Iraq has had on the situation in Iraq was
"Afghanizing" the media coverage of the war-torn country, as
the only change on the ground was "for the worse", according
to a leading columnist in a major US daily Friday, August 6.
"A
funny thing happened after the United States transferred sovereignty
over Iraq. On the ground, things didn't change, except for the
worse," Paul Krugman, the opinion-editor of New York Times said.
"But
as Matthew Yglesias of The American Prospect puts it, the cosmetic
change in regime had the effect of ‘Afghanizing’ the media
coverage of Iraq," he added in an article under the heading
"What About Iraq?".
Krugman
explained that Yeglesias is referring to "the way news coverage
of Afghanistan dropped off sharply after the initial military defeat
of the Taliban".
"A
nation we had gone to war to liberate and had promised to secure and
rebuild - a promise largely broken - once again became a small,
faraway country of which we knew nothing," he said about
Afghanistan.
Coverage
Krugman
states how the same twist took place as far as Iraq was concerned
after the handover of power.
"Incredibly,
the same thing happened to Iraq after June 28. Iraq stories moved to
the inside pages of newspapers, and largely off TV screens. Many
people got the impression that things had improved.
"Even
journalists were taken in: a number of newspaper stories asserted that
the rate of US losses there fell after the handoff. (Actual figures:
42 American soldiers died in June, and 54 in July.)," said the
prominent columnist.
The
trouble with this shift of attention, he opined, is that if people
don't have a clear picture of what's actually happening in Iraq, they
won't be able to open a serious discussion of the options that remain
for making the best of a very bad situation.
The
military reality in Iraq is that there has been no letup in attacks
against occupation forces, and large parts of the country seem to be
effectively under the control of groups hostile to the US-backed
government, according to Krugman.
More
than 15 US soldiers were wounded in a fresh
flare-up of clashes with Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia in
Iraq Friday, in which more than 50 people were killed in the midst of
no security and a Us chopper was shot down.
"And
everywhere, of course, the mortar attacks, bombings, kidnappings and
assassinations go on."
Lack
Of Services
The
US columnist also noted that earlier promises made by Washington to
Iraqis seeking better life standards and safety before the invasion of
the oil-rich country have not materialized.
"This
summer, like last summer, there are severe shortages of electricity.
Sewage is tainting the water supply, and typhoid and hepatitis are on
the rise.
"Unemployment
remains sky-high. Needless to say, all this undermines any chance for
the new Iraqi government to gain wide support."
Krugman
dismissed his point in describing all this bad news is not to be
defeatist, but rather to set some realistic context for the political
debate.
He
said calls for American forces to "stay the course" are
fatuous, as "the course we're on leads downhill".
"American
soldiers keep winning battles, but we're losing the war: our military
is under severe strain; we're creating more terrorists than we're
killing; our reputation, including our moral authority, is damaged
each month this goes on," read the article of the opinion editor
of the American daily.
End
Occupation
The
famous American columnist called on the US forces to end their
position as an occupying power.
"We
need to move quickly to end our position as an occupying power in a
bitterly hostile land, the fate that none other than former President
George H. W. Bush correctly warned could be the result of an invasion
of Iraq," he said.
"And
that means turning real power over to Iraqis.
"Again
and again since the early months after the fall of Baghdad - when Paul
Bremer III canceled local elections in order to keep the seats warm
for our favorite exiles - US officials have passed up the chance to
promote credible Iraqi leaders. And each time the remaining choices
get worse."
Krugman
added: "Yet we're still doing it. Ayad Allawi is, probably,
something of a thug. Still, it's in our interests that he succeed.
"But
when Allawi proposed an amnesty for "insurgents" - a move
that was obviously calculated to show that he wasn't an American
puppet - American officials, probably concerned about how it would
look at home, stepped in to insist that "insurgents" who
have killed Americans be excluded.
Inevitably,
Krugman sees this suggestion that American lives matter more than
Iraqi lives led to an unraveling of the whole thing.
Allawi,
had earlier admitted that he had run an organization that carried out
a bombing campaign, in collaboration
with the CIA , in Iraq in the 1990s to topple then President
Saddam Hussein, "now looks like a puppet."
"But
we should get realistic, and look in earnest for an exit," the
American writer concluded.
On
May 26, The New York Times admitted in an unusual mea culpa
published substantial problems with its coverage of Iraq’s alleged
weapons of mass destruction and links to terrorism, saying it was
misled by Iraqi exiles and American intelligence.
The
Times published a number of articles backing claims that Iraq
possessed WMDs - none of which has been found more than one year after
the U.S.-led occupation of the oil-rich country.
