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All autocratic and repressive regimes must be resisted.
And, yes, Saudi Arabia, an contemporary colonial outpost
must be a top priority. However, let's not turn to
any superpower for any example, let alone any super-example.
A lot of people want democracy - or so they claim
- as long as it serves their interest.
This kind of move by America in Iraq also doesn't
bolster the appetite of the people around the world
for democracy. Maybe the what is intended of Iraqification
by America would finally called AMIRAQ - AMerica's
outpost in IRAQ.
Dr.
Mohammad Omar Farooq
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Raid On Arab TV Network Hardly
A Democratic Move
Dictators Should Be Only Ones Shutting Down Media
Broadcasts
Helen Thomas
Courtesy:
Boston Channel [November 26, 2003]
WASHINGTON -- The raid by the U.S.-appointed Iraqi
officials on an Arab television network bureau in
Baghdad and the ban on its broadcasts hardly fits
my idea of how to spread democracy in the Middle East.
Isn't that the first thing dictators do -- shut down
broadcast outlets and newspapers? For those in power,
tolerating a free press is difficult, even in a democracy.
As a foreign occupier in Iraq, we are proving that
it is intolerable.
The terrible irony here is that we pride ourselves
on offering a model to the rest of the world on how
to design -- and live by -- our constitutional freedoms.
Journalists around the globe
have been taught to emulate our approach to newsgathering,
hopefully in an atmosphere free of government restraints.
At the same time, we're snuffing out news outlets
we don't like.
On Monday, the U.S.-appointed Iraqi government raided
the Baghdad bureau of the Al-Arabiya TV network.
The network's crime was to broadcast an audiotape
from Saddam Hussein complaining about Iraqis who were
cooperating with the U.S. occupation force and calling
for resistance. The tape had been sent to Al-Arabiya's
headquarters in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
The network, which has interviewed Secretary of State
Colin Powell in the past, is one of the largest TV
outlets in the Arab world.
Any tape portraying Saddam's views on life fits the
definition of news, if for no other reason than it
is evidence that he is still alive and able to secretly
communicate from wherever he was hiding.
Al-Arabiya and its competitor, the Al-Jazeera Satellite
Channel, have a wide following throughout the Middle
East. Al-Jazeera caused Washington much discomfort
in the lead-up to the war by broadcasting statements
from Saddam.
The White House strongly offered "advice"
to U.S. TV outlets to shun those tapes but the American
networks generally ignored the unhelpful hints.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has accused both
Arab stations of being hostile by covering news of
the guerrilla attacks on American forces.
Al-Jazeera's Baghdad bureau was hit by a U.S. missile
on April 8, killing a reporter-cameraman. The network
also has complained of an attack on its marked vehicle
April 7.
On Nov. 13, 2001, during the U.S. war on Afghanistan
an American missile went "awry," according
to the Pentagon, and destroyed the Al-Jazeera bureau
in Kabul.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists
has condemned the move against Al-Arabiya, noting
that "statements from Saddam Hussein and the
former Iraqi regime are inherently newsworthy and
news organizations have a right to cover them."
Rumsfeld grouses that the two stations were violently
against the American coalition. He hopes to counter
their influence when a U.S.-controlled TV satellite
channel begins broadcasts next month.
Then will the Iraqis and the Arab world be guaranteed
the truth?
In a brilliant speech earlier this month before the
National Conference on Media Reform, broadcaster and
former newspaper editor Bill Moyers warned that American
media conglomerates may find common cause "with
an imperial state."
But Moyers said "the greatest moments in the
history of the press came not when journalists made
common cause with the state but when they stood fearlessly
independent of it."
Against that statement of values, the recent performance
by American journalists does not measure well.
White House and Pentagon reporters initially pulled
their punches in reporting on the Iraqi war. Some
media outlets admittedly did not want to rock the
boat by showing grisly photos or videotape that could
be disturbing to Americans.
As a result, many Americans tuned in on foreign news
channels to get the full picture of the war.
Even now, with the administration's pro-war arguments
reduced to a pile of confetti, many
news outlets have failed to demand accountability
from the Bush administration for what appears to be
systematic dishonesty in trying to justify the U.S.
attack.
This failure and the U.S.-led suppression of newsgathering
in Iraq show that the historic American model for
a free and independent press needs courageous bolstering.
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