Page 204 - Mass Media, Mass Propoganda Examining American News in the War on Terror

194 Chapter 8

"Precision Bombing" and the Case of Falluja

When looking at mainstream reporting, claims that the U.S. is committed to
limiting Iraqi deaths were also repeated at length in the U.S. attacks against Fal-
luja in 2004. The New York Times ran a headline in April of that year reporting
that "A Full Range of Technology is Applied to Bomb Falluja," as the paper
claimed that the U.S. wanted "to avoid civilian casualties," although conceding
that the entire city had essentially become "a military target."62 It was known in
advance that mass bombing of Falluja would lead to major casualties if the city
was not evacuated. In preparation for the bombing, media pundits and television
hosts congratulated the U.S. for encouraging an evacuation from the city in
preparation of the bombing. Shephard Smith of Fox News Studio B announced
that "we told [the people of Falluja] we were coming so the innocents could get
out of there.'"3 Reports from the Red Cross in mid-November, revealed that not
all civilians were believed to have escaped, as the organization estimated that
approximately 800 civilians were "feared dead.''4 On the same day the Red
Cross report was released, the Washington Post report on the bombing did not
suggest that hundreds of civilians had died. The paper announced that, "Falluja
looks like a city from which everyone has walked away."65 The Los Angeles
Times added the same, that "most civilians were cleared out, leaving a 'clean'
battlefield.'"6 Finally, the New York Times repeated the statement of former
Prime Minister Ayad Allawi that, "the number of Iraqi casualties has not been
officially announced," although Allawi "said he does not believe any civilians
were killed in the offensive, which has left more than 1,200 insurgents dead.'"7
In general, a different picture emerged of the attack on Falluja depending
upon which news sources viewers and readers were following. On the day the
Red Cross report was released in the Independent-Left media outlet Z Magazine,
other stories were deemed more important in the major papers discussed above.
Stories that beat out the Red Cross report in terms of feature coverage included
updates on second term cabinet changes in the Bush administration, Yasser
Arafat's death, and celebrations of the tactical progress of the assault on Falluja.
Fox News was amongst the most vocal in the speculations over the success of
the attack on Falluja. Fox News Live posed the question: "How Will U.S. Forces
Finish the Fight?," as host Rita Cosby announced that the U.S. takeover of the
city in six days was "amazing."68 CNN Live presented a similar question: "Will
U.S. and Coalition Forces be Successful in Driving Forces Out of ~alluja?'"~
The New York Times editorial staff celebrated the demolition of Falluja and
forced expulsion of its people as "swift," "stunning," and ultimately, a "tri-
Special privileging was allotted to eliminating "a major safe haven for
insurgents," so as to more effectively "disrupt their ~~erations."~' The conflict in
Falluja had become "a contest for the confidence of the Iraqi people,"72 with the
U.S. "liberating"73 the city from the hands of the "insurgency" a major focus of
reporting. The reality that the destruction of the city ignited Iraqi anger on a
grand scale was left to more critical news outlets to make. In Al Jazeera, for
example, Scott Ritter predicted the opposite of the euphoria in the mainstream
American press, claiming that: "While the U.S. is unlikely to deliver a fatal blow