Politicians, Mass Media Obscure Real Issues in Iraq
The situation in Iraq has deteriorated in the eyes of many, due largely to the abuses that occurred at Abu Ghraib prison at the hands of a few kinky GIs. What happened at the prison is inexcusable, and those responsible should be tried, and, if convicted, punished. And guess what? Those responsible are being tried, and, if convicted, will be punished.
In light of this, one might wonder why there is so much media attention given to the story. After all, the military was already working toward rectifying (no pun intended) the situation before the pictures from Abu Ghraib ever hit the airwaves. Yet we’ve now seen those photos approximately 354,712 times. Isn’t it time to move on? There was a problem, and now it has been corrected. No one was killed, or even seriously harmed. Since constantly stressing the story does nothing but hurt America abroad and accomplishes nothing constructive, it seems there is no valid reason to keep harping on it.
Of course, we all know I’m being naïve. There is plenty to gain by harping on the events for liberal politicians. Former Vice-President Al Gore recently came a bit unglued, and called President Bush a traitor, and, in his best impersonation of disgraced evangelist Jimmy Swaggert, called on a number of Bush administration officials to resign. Ted Kennedy argued that Saddam’s torture chambers have reopened under new management. Such rhetoric is harmful to America, but is par the course in even-numbered years.
While the media has been exposing us to soft core porn, it has ignored or downplayed a number of other newsworthy stories. The most obvious, of course, being the tragic death of Nicholas Berg, the young man brutally beheaded by Islamic militants on video. If anyone wondered why we must prevail in Iraq and win the war on terror, this video provides the answer. Yet it has received nowhere nearly as much attention as the abuses at Abu Ghraib. Sen. Zell Miller (D-GA) put it best, “Those who are wringing their hands and shouting so loudly for 'heads to roll' over [the prison abuse at Abu Ghraib] seem to have conveniently overlooked the fact that someone's head has rolled - that of another innocent American brutally murdered by terrorists. Why is it that there's more indignation over a photo of a prisoner with underwear on his head than over the video of a young American with no head at all?''
Something else we have heard little about is the fact that weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq. For months, anti-war pundits wondered where the WMDs had gone, implying President Bush lied about their existence. Now some have been found. On May 17, a roadside bomb exploded in Iraq that contained sarin nerve agent, clearly a WMD. This would appear to be quite a news story, but again, it has been mostly ignored.
Finally, the most under reported story in recent memory has been the Iraq Oil-for-Food debacle. This was a program corrupt to the core, as Iraqi records indicate. A congressional committee is currently investigating the situation, which involves high ranking UN officials, including the son of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, UN Under-Secretary General Benon V. Sevan, several corporations, and high ranking officials in a number of nations, including France and Britain.
The regime of Saddam Hussein murdered about 300,000 people, and killed over a million in wars it started. The Oil-for-Food program was designed to help feed the starving civilians of Iraq. Yet it appears Saddam had UN officials bribed, and instead of feeding the innocent Iraqis, Saddam continued to build up his military. Meanwhile, high-ranking officials simply looked the other way. Any fair minded individual would have to conclude this is a much bigger story than some Iraqi thug with underwear on his head, since it involves numerous organizations, as well as the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians. So why isn’t it being covered more thoroughly?
All of these facts seem to indicate there are many here in America who either do not wish to win the war on terror, or at least are more interested in scoring political points. Perhaps they don’t understand how crucial it is that we emerge victorious, or they simply don’t care. In terms of results, it doesn’t matter. If we fail in Iraq, it doesn’t just hurt Bush. It hurts America. Everyone, including those who opposed regime change in Baghdad, should understand this reality. Sadly, the idea of politics ending at the water’s edge is long out of date. This may help Democrats in the short term. But in the long term, it will hurt all Americans.
All pundits and politicians should keep this in mind.
- John Brown is a senior in political science and history at the University of Tennessee @ Knoxville. Contact him at johnnyb325@aol.com, or visit www.johnnorrisbrown.com. This column originally ran in the June 1, 2004 edition of The Daily Beacon, available here.