Apparently the feds are just plain fed up with us media types and our cup-half-empty, if-it-bleeds-it-leads attitude about the war in Iraq.
With 20 to 30 attacks on U.S. soldiers daily — and, on average, more than 10 injuries and one death per day — we don’t have to look far to find a story that will satisfy our bloodlust.
Since the security situation shows no sign of improvement anytime soon, the Bush administration has decided to launch a pre-emptive strike on bad press and the bad liberal media responsible for it.
According to The Washington Post, the president has banned reporters from covering the arrival of dead soldiers in flag-draped coffins, a staple of wartime photojournalism. And, according to Newsweek, reporters are barred from hospitals and morgues in Baghdad, stymieing any attempt to independently verify the numbers of dead and injured.
Here at home, several members of Congress are doing their patriotic part by starting www.freedom.gov, a new Web site designed to give fair and balanced coverage of the Iraqi reconstruction effort. It looks exactly as one might expect: pictures of happy soldiers, happy Iraqi children and as many American flags as is technologically possible to cram on a single screen.
If you click on “Accomplishments” at the top of the page, you will find eight links to positive articles about the war.
I know what you’re thinking: Have there really been eight separate accomplishments in Iraq? That sounds a little high. Well, you’re right. I discovered, upon closer inspection, that two of the eight links go to the same article.
You have to get up pretty early in the morning …
One link is entitled: “Rumsfeld Emphasizes Positive Coalition Accomplishments in Iraq.” It is a transcript of the Secretary of Defense’s Sept. 5 interview with Dan Rather.
“I’m impressed with the accomplishment that’s taken place,” Rumsfeld said. “Is it a perfect picture? No. Are there terrorists active? Yes. Are there criminals active? Yes. Are there still people being killed? That’s for sure. … It is a mixed picture.”
If that’s Rumsfeld emphasizing accomplishments, then I’d hate to hear him de-emphasizing accomplishments! What a minute. That is exactly what he does in a recently leaked memo obtained by USA Today, in which he says that Iraq will be a “long, hard slog” and that America has put little effort into long-range planning. The memo is oddly missing from www.freedom.gov.
Another article on the site — this one from that pillar of journalistic objectivity, the American Forces Press Service — shows how happy a group of soldiers are after 15 days of R&R. Said one enthusiastic soldier: “All I can say to the Army is ‘thank you, thank you, thank you.’”
I’ve seen subtler propaganda on Al Jazeera!
What is not included in any story on www.freedom.gov is the almost daily flood of complaints from soldiers and their families, ranging from not having the proper bulletproof vests to the terrible living conditions of wounded soldiers, many of who wait weeks or even months for medical care. One officer told United Press International, “They’re being treated like dogs.”
In his effort to minimize political backlash, Bush is dishonoring the men and women risking their lives every day in Iraq. Their struggles and ultimate sacrifices deserve to be covered by the media, whether or not it hurts Bush’s chances at re-election.
Many of the articles on www.freedom.gov are written by or about congressional Republicans and their recent trips to Iraq.
For example, the article repeated twice is by U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., writing to his local paper: “Flying over this city of 5.7 million people in a Black Hawk helicopter … Baghdad appeared to be functioning close to normal. Cars, buses and trucks were on the roads. Stores were open. People were walking along the streets.”
U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., confirmed Hoekstra’s rosy report: “From the air, Baghdad looked remarkably prosperous and totally undamaged.”
Hear that liberal media? Both Hoekstra and Frelinghuysen flew over Iraq and it looked normal. People were walking. What more proof do you want?
In the interest of fairness, both of these men eventually landed in Iraq and spent a few days walking around Baghdad. I believe they even spent the night in Iraq, unlike Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, who slept in Kuwait during both nights of his trip, according to Newsweek. Who can blame him? U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz spent last weekend in Iraq, and his hotel was attacked with six homemade rockets. He survived uninjured.
When Commerce Secretary Don Evans was in Iraq, he saw teenagers selling Coca-Cola on the street. “The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in Baghdad,” Evans said in an interview with The Washington Post.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, was also impressed with Iraq’s growing economy. “I saw satellite dishes — outlawed under Saddam’s tyranny — cropping up on top of homes, the early stages of a free economy.”
Satellite dishes and child laborers selling soda: Are you writing this down, liberal media?
Lastly, U.S. Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., said in an interview: “Based on what we saw and heard, ninety-nine percent of Iraqis seek and want a U.S. presence, yet the one percent that does not receives the majority of the media coverage.”
I don’t mean to question the scientific legitimacy of Davis’ “what I heard one day” methodology, but that number is closer to 50 percent, according to a new poll from the Iraq Center for Research and Strategic Studies in Baghdad.
Their poll also showed that 60 percent of Iraqis have little or no confidence that the safety situation will improve, and only 14.8 percent view the coalition as liberators, down from 43 percent six months ago. You won’t read that on www.freedom.gov.
I’ve been a vocal opponent of the mainstream media’s failed coverage of the Iraq war from the very beginning. They failed to report on the use of depleted uranium weapons, failed to discuss our responsibility for a decade of savage economic sanctions, failed to scrutinize claims about WMDs and failed to inform the world about civilian casualties.
But browsing through www.freedom.gov has given me a new appreciation for how bad it could be, and how bad it might get if we don’t continue to fight for true freedom — the free press — in America, in Iraq and all over the world.