Page 128 - Mass Media, Mass Propoganda Examining American News in the War on Terror

118 Chapter 5

expelling American forces from Iraq, rather than promoting sectarian violence
and full blown civil war. As the International Institute for Strategic Studies es-
timates, there are only approximately 1,000 "foreign Islamic Jihadists" currently
in Iraq, out of an estimated 40,000-200,000 part-time and full-time fighters,
hardly enough to lead a resistance movement so large.93 According to one Brit-
ish report inside of Falluja in October of 2004, foreign fighters were in short
supply, as 99 ercent of those opposing the occupation were estimated to be
local residents!' This is consistent with other critical appraisals of the conflict.
For example, Scott Ritter argues in Al Jazeera that, "There is simply no sub-
stance" to the "legend" of Al Zarqawi as the terror mastermind in Falluja. Ritter
concludes that during the November U.S. siege, "Rather than extremist foreign
fighters battling to the death," U.S. "marines are mostly finding local men from
Falluja who are fighting to defend their city from what they view as an illegiti-
mate occupier."95 Still, this did not prevent reporters from focusing dispropor-
tionately on the A1 Zarqawi phenomenon-disproportionately, at least, in terms
of his lack of influence over nationalist resistance groups. Time magazine, for
example, published a major story in December of 2005 entitled, "The Rise of an
Evil Protkgk," with a menacing picture of a pixilated al-Zarqawi. The story ar-
gued that Zarqawi was "turning Iraq into a breeding ground for a1 Qaeda foot
soldiers," while also quoting an American intelligence analyst who claimed he
was trying to "assume the mantle of bin Laden" in Al Qaeda's leadership.96
Attacks on "foreign fighters" often fail to examine the historical back-
grounds and motivations of those involved in Islamist terror. When one delves
deeper into the matter, a more detailed understanding emerges. Take for exam-
ple one study done by the Saudi Arabian government and an Israeli think tank,
which analyzed the backgrounds and motivations of many of these foreign
fighters entering Iraq. The report found that most of these fighters were not
long-time terrorists, but had become polarized by the Iraq war, as "the vast ma-
jority of [non-Iraqi] Arabs killed in Iraq have never taken part in any terrorist
an
Such
activity prior to their arrival in ~ra~."~~ analysis suggests that, rather
than longtime terrorists entering Iraq and attacking the U.S., most of these indi-
viduals had little past experience with terror attacks, and were, in fact, radical-
ized by the occupation itself.

Who is a Terrorist?

The "Iraqi insurgents equals terrorists" argument promulgated throughout the
mainstream press is an interesting one, worthy of serious analysis, at least in so
far as it reveals the propagandistic nature of American media coverage. A clear
trend has emerged in corporate reporting on the "insurgency." Iraq's "insur-
gents" are consistently labeled as terrorists, while U.S. forces, often engaging in
similar activities, have not been labeled as such. American forces are also guilty
of killing thousands of civilians when targeting "insurgent strongholds," and on
a radically larger level than any resistance fighters have achieved. Just as Iraq's
resistance factions have kidnapped Iraqis and assassinated and tortured them, so