Page 125 - Mass Media, Mass Propoganda Examining American News in the War on Terror

Railing Iraqi Resistance

"Terrorists" and "Foreign Jihadists"

Establishment media outlets are quick to equate attacks against American sol-
diers with terrorism. Islamist forces attacking the U.S. are often the prime target
of Bush administration rhetoric and media commentary. Time magazine
claimed-prior to his death-that much of the "resistance is being spearheaded
by Jihadists loyal to al-~ar~awi."~' Behind this phrasing is the assumption that
foreign Islamist forces and Iraq's Sunni based resistance factions are working
intimately together. This is well represented in another Time news story which
predicted in December of 2005 that "those violently opposing the U.S. occupa-
tion may be splitting into two: Iraqi nationals and Al-Qaeda foreigners."72 While
one can argue that the two forms of resistance are loosely affiliated in that they
both oppose the U.S. occupation of Iraq, substantive evidence demonstrating
that they share a similar vision for Iraq, or are working together in a hierarchical
command structure are lacking, to say the least.
The negative "terrorist" label is one of the most effective attacks against
resistance fighters, since it elicits condemnation on an emotional level, rather
than on a level of intellectual debate. Another strength of the label is that it is
accurate (at least when applied to attacks on infrastructure or civilians), although
it also obscures the United States' own responsibility for inciting or partaking in
terrorism in Iraq. U.S. responsibility for terrorism is a subject American report-
ers avoid like the plague. Shepard Smith of Fox New's Studio B focuses in black
and white language exclusively on, "these bad guys, these insurgents-they're
terr~rists."~~ Chris Wallace, on Fox News Sunday, attacked "terrorists" for
having "stepped up attacks on Iraq's new [interim] David As-
man of Fox News Live puts a different slant on "terror" in the region, asking his
guest Lt. Col. Bill Cowan "what is the connection between the Syrian govern-
ment and terrorists fighting in ~ra~?~~
Rod Nordland and Babak Dehghanpishek of Newsweek deplore "insur-
gents" for having "effectively created a reign of terror throughout the country"
in which "Everyone is vulnerab~e."~~ The "insurgents"' "campaign of terror"77
has created what Newsweek deems a "climate of fear," in which Iraqis are per-
petually terrorized, and no one knows when or where new attacks will origi-
nate.78 Implications that the United States may be destabilizing Iraq by partici-
pating in the violence are omitted from media commentary, even when
American actions lead to the deaths of thousands of Iraqis, civilians and com-
batants alike. In this sense, the Progressive-Left press has framed the U.S. as a
terrorist state. Mass media sources, on the other hand, systematically deny the
notion that the United States engages in terrorism.
Most corporate media commentary neglects background motivations of
Islamist terror groups. Writing for the New York Times, Daniel Benjamin and
Gabriel Weimann portray terrorists in Iraq as intent on "winning" the conflict by
"seizing cities and towns, killing American troops, and destabilizing the country
with attacks on the police, oil pipelines, and reconstruction projects."79 While
terrorist attacks do, by definition, encompass such actions, claims that terrorist