Monday, March 24, 2003

NEWS FROM THE FRONT LINE

Okay, then. I've gotta blog about this war thing. There are three events that are sticking in my mind at the moment. They all relate to press reporting of the war. As we all know, the first casualty of war is the truth. This one is no different. For all our 21st century technology. Even with our own reporters in the enemy's capital - how weird is that? I just cannot believe half of the stuff coming through on the media.

First, the death of an ITN reporter, possibly by friendly fire. From what I've read, the reason why the likes of Terry Lloyd were wandering around the desert is because in the last Gulf War, reporters complained that there was so little to report when they were linked up with army units (or "embedded" in newspeak). So there now seem to be dozens of reporters risking their lives to get the real story. Lloyd was unlikely and got caught either by driving into an Iraqi patrol or possibly hit by "coalition" forces: all for trying to pierce the fog of war.

Another Guardian article: sorry. The story concerns Al-Jazeera TV reporting of the war. Al-Jazeera is the Arab antidote to CNN, Fox and the other US outlets. I think I better add BBC and ITN to that too. Although the reporting I've seen has been professional from Baghdad (under Iraqi supervision) and from the battlefield, there's still a suspicion that we're getting the stroy that someone else - be it military or political - wants us to hear. But, the quote I've picked out is this one:

"The South African columnist Darrel Bristow-Bovey yesterday complained that the influence of reality TV made war reporting look like "Big Brother Iraq"."

That's brought it all home to me. This is a reality programme, yet it is total unreality.

And then those pictures of the US PoWs...How does this affect my view of the morality of the war? Should I be horrified at the Iraqis flagrantly breaching the Geneva Convention? Should I rail at the "coalition" for putting our boys and girls at risk?

I am disgusted that the Iraqis paraded the prsoners on TV. Yet, I am also disgusted that British TV has also now shown these pictures. It is no excuse for the Iraqis, but I must question the editorial decision at the BBC and ITN. Is there a political side to this? "Look. This is why we need to get rid of Sadaam. His regime is evil." I'm suspicious. Are you?

I hesitate to make the connection of Rumsfeld complaining about a breach of Geneva and the treatment of suspected Al-Qaida terrorists. But, there you go. I just did. Now, I ask whether the terrorists are PoWs. If not, are they then criminals? Then why that dreadful picture of the Al-Qaida number 2 the other week?

:: Posted by pete @ 21:54