Page 189 - Mass Media, Mass Propoganda Examining American News in the War on Terror

Doctrines of Media and State:

Hailing Humanitarianism,
Dismissing Disaster

On January 9,2006, US. News & World Report published an issue featuring an
update on the progress of the United States in its occupation of Iraq. What
seemed most relevant about this report was not so much how different or unique
it was from other news stories coming out at the time, but how similar it was to
the rest mainstream reporting in terms of the uniform promotion of the dangers
of Iraqi "insurgency" and the importance of American heroism in Iraq. The US.
News edition ran a number of stories discussing topics such as "insurgent" vio-
lence and "evolving American military tactics," and the 2005 parliamentary
elections in the midst of re-emerging sectarian violence between Iraqi Shiite,
Sunni, and Kurdish political and military groups.'
As one story indicated, the pacification of Iraqi resistance forces was get-
ting much more difficult in light of the growth of violence directed at the U.S.
occupation. In a piece entitled "Cracking an Insurgent Cell" Julian Barnes re-
ported that "finding-and breaking-the ruthless killers of Iraq is not a pretty
business," as the report provided "an exclusive look at how it's done."' Barnes7
article, emphasizing "counter-insurgency" tactics, was printed alongside a pic-
ture of Iraqi soldiers as they detained two "insurgents" who appeared to be beg-
ging the officers, perhaps to be released from custody. The printing of the pic-
ture represented a clever use of imagery, as it reframed the conflict from one
between American soldiers and guerilla resistance to one between Iraqi security
forces and "insurgents" in the struggle for democracy and stability. The image
of the two Iraqi soldiers, in a position of power over rebel forces, seemed to
suggest that Iraqis were taking over security operations from the United States,
thereby implying a homegrown legitimacy to the entire U.S. project in Iraq.
The magazine's cover displayed a more "human" side to the conflict, as it
featured a picture of Jonathan Fox, an American soldier, who spoke with Iraqi
children in a slum in Western Mosul. Inside the issue readers could see pictures