Page 251 - Mass Media, Mass Propoganda Examining American News in the War on Terror

Catapult the Media 24 1

The Casualties of War

Aside from its ideological opposition to the U.S., A1 Jazeera's reporting on spe-
cific events throughout the "War on Terror" also aroused significant opposition
from the Bush and Blair administration's, the Iraqi interim government, and
much of the Western media. The network's coverage of Iraqi civilian and
American military casualties throughout the war in Iraq is a case in point. A1
Jazeera encountered serious resistance from Western governments and media
after it chose to broadcast graphic pictures of Iraqi and Afghan civilian casual-
ties as well as American and British Prisoners of War who were killed in the
early days of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The network exacerbated Western ap-
prehension when it decided to broadcast images of American and British sol-
diers killed in combat in late March 2003. Those images caused many viewers to
question the human consequences of the war.
Predictably, reactions to the footage were overwhelmingly negative
throughout much of the United States, Britain, and Iraq, particularly among
those in high level government and media positions. Rumsfeld condemned A1
Jazeera, claiming that the network had "a pattern of playing propaganda, over
and over and over again," in what he considered-erroneously-to be manufac-
tured images of civilian deaths that allegedly never took place."5 Other military
leaders leveled similar charges. Senior Military Spokesperson Mark Kimmitt
attacked stations like A1 Jazeera that are allegedly "showing Americans inten-
tionally killing women and children." According to Kimmitt, outlets that make
such claims "are not legitimate news sources," as these charges constitute
"propaganda" and "lies" rather than factual reporting of events in 1raq.'I6
And yet, the claim that A1 Jazeera is unprofessional because it discusses
execution charges on the part of the U.S. military is highly circumspect. Other
more conservative and pro-war sources such as the Times of London, along with
many other world news sources, have come forward to level similar charges that
U.S. forces have executed civilians. These charges have also been backed up by
Iraqi police reports. As Hala Jaber and Tony Allen of the Times reported in De-
cember of 2005, U.S. troops were implicated in executing eleven people in Abu
Sifa, a village near the town of Balad. An Iraqi police report indicated that the
Iraqis were killed after an American raid on the house, in which troops were
hoping to catch an A1 Qaeda suspect. Reports on the ground explained that vil-
lagers searched the house after American soldiers left, only to uncover the bod-
ies buried beneath the rubble. As the Times reported, "Women and children were
blindfolded and hands bound. Some of their faces were totally di~fi~ured.""~
The autopsy report from the hospital also indicated that all the victims were
killed from bullet wound^."^
Attempts to discipline A1 Jazeera have been made a priority by the Bush
administration and other leaders who correctly view the station's reporting as
critical of their legitimacy. In an attempt to censor A1 Jazeera's reporting, the
Pentagon called A1 Jazeera's Washington bureau chief and suggested that the
station end its broadcasting of any graphic pictures of American soldiers who
had been captured or killed in Iraq. A British Ministry of Defense spokesperson