Page 94 - Mass Media, Mass Propoganda Examining American News in the War on Terror

84 Chapter 4

stream media becomes clearer, as their attacks on Iraqi resistance groups created
a sort of "black and white" polarization between the occupiers, interested in de-
mocracy and human rights, and an "insurgency" intent on derailing progress,
stability, elections, and Iraqi self-determination.

The Virtues of Stability
The importance of Iraqi "stability" is a prime focus of mass media reporting,
even as the occupation became increasingly violent. Thomas Ricks, reporting for
the Washington Post, discussed the "bigger challenge" in Iraq, of "creating an
Iraqi government presence to prevent key areas from reverting into chaos.'*'
The Washington Post reported that such "stability" might be won by creating
"homegrown military and law enforcement forces" needed to quell unrest and
The
re~istance.~~ general picture presented was one where the Bush administra-
tion "hope[d] to show progress toward stability."47
According to the model presented in the mass media, the United States is
gracious and compassionate in its motivations for the Iraq war-humanitarian in
its concern with furthering freedom in the realm of international relations. As
social critic and scholar Michael Parenti states, "It is taken as a given that unjust
aggression is something this country resists but never practices. That conflicts
arising with other nations are the fault of those nations," rather than of American
political 1eade1-s.~~ Chalmers Johnson, author of Sorrows of Empire: Militarism,
Secrecy, and the End of the Republic argued, "Our imperialists like to assert that
they are merely bringing a measure of 'stability' to the world. For them, the
dirty hands belong to older empires, not our own.lA9

Electoral Exaltation

The post-2005 election period witnessed some of the most pronounced euphoria
regarding Iraqi "democratization," compared with most any other time period in
Operation Iraqi Freedom. The New York Times and ChN celebrated "Iraq's first
free election in 50 years,"50 as a "milestone" breakthrough in democratization.''
Bridget Quinn of Fox News Live cheered, "for the first time in years Iraqis will
be able to cast their votes freely."52 Shepard Smith of Fox News' Studio B
praised Iraqis for "coming out to brave the terror threat," as Iraq's guerilla forces
were denigrated for hampering Iraqi progress.53 American troops were praised
by countless reporters, anchors, and pundits, among them Martha MacCallum of
Fox News Live - for "trying to make Iraq safe for voters."54
According to mainstream media sources, the "pacification" campaign was
intended mainly to benefit the Iraqi people. Taking media reports and editorials
at face value, the American public was told in the media that the "short term"
goal of military planners had always been the establishment of a government
that would "make most Iraqis feel they have regained their sovereignty"; con-
trary evidence exposing the Bush administration's opposition to democratic