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The Iraq Charade
By Ramzy Baroud
01/03/08 "ICH"
- -- -In recent months, we have been inundated by media
reports bringing good news from Iraq, with countless
testimonials to the great improvement in security enjoyed by the
country in general and the Baghdad area in particular.
This progress is attributed solely to the judicious ‘surge’ of
US military presence, and the astute tactics enacted by
occupation forces in a place that once personified despair and
violence.
Indeed, reports repeatedly point to the figure indicating that
violence in Iraq has dwindled by 60 per cent in the past three
months.
BBC reporter in Iraq, Jim Muir, is one of the leading
enthusiasts of the apparent miracle. In his report, ‘Is Iraq
Getting Better?’, he indulges in over-generalised estimations
which just happen to be shared by the US military.
“Over the past three months, there has been a sharp and
sustained drop in all forms of violence. The figures for dead
and wounded, military and civilian, have also greatly
improved...People walk in crowded streets in the evening, when
just a few months, ago they would have been huddled behind
locked doors in their homes. Everybody agrees that things are
much better.”
Elsewhere, Muir goes further in discussing the role played by
Sunni militias in bringing peace to Baghdad. He quotes a
militiaman as saying, “At the beginning, people saw it as an
occupation which had to be resisted. But then they saw that the
Americans were working in the interests of the people.”
The BBC represents only a mild example in this charade, which is
instilled mostly by the Bush administration and its allies in
the military and in the mainstream media. It is mind-boggling
how the latter could accept the so-called transformation from
chaos to semi-order without any real questioning.
Meanwhile, there are a few sources of information regarding the
violence resulting from the US invasion of Iraq.
One of these is the US military itself, which keeps track of and
publishes information pertinent to the violence only when it’s
relevant to attacks on US installations and personnel.
Confirming or denying these reports in their entirety is
unattainable by any independent source. Considering the
politicised nature of the US military public relation
strategies, such reports should hardly attest to what is indeed
unfolding in Iraq.
Another source of information is the Iraq government and army.
It’s no secret that those at the helm of both of these
institutions are working under the command of the US military.
Spokesmen for the Iraqi government coordinate their statements —
with a few exceptions — to confirm those made by the latter.
It seems odd that the bulk - if not the entirety - of reports on
the improvement in security are predicated principally on
information released by the US military, Iraqi official sources
or willing collaborates of both (conformist Shia sources, tribal
Sunni leaders). The latter group reportedly receive a
monthly-imbursement for helping guard their areas against Al
Qaeda.
Moreover, an estimated 80,000 Sunni fighters — many of whom were
apparently insurgents fighting the US military — get paid US
$300 each to perform various guarding duties. What else do media
‘investigative’ reporters expect to hear from those who get paid
to improve security in Iraq?
Can they possibly discredit their own efforts, thus losing badly
needed incomes? It’s interesting how the US military can now
lend its trust to arming and funding the same people who were
supposedly blowing up their vehicles a few months ago.
A third source of news is the implausibly huge number of
statements made by various organisations in Iraq — some fighting
the US and British forces, others fighting amongst themselves
due to differences of ethnicity or agenda.
Moreover, many of Iraq’s death squads were found to be no other
than Al Badr Brigades, the militant arm of some leading members
of the Iraqi government.
Much of the killing was also attributed to Al Mahdi Army, based
mostly in Baghdad’s Al Sadr City. Internal politics and
secretive dealings have contributed to the cessation of violence
attributed to Al Mahdi militias. The Iraqi army and police are
said to be assembled from these two large Shia militants
groupings, and much of the violence seems to be of their own
making.
Isn’t possible that the US allies decided to cease their
violence and ethnic cleansing in Baghdad to give the impression
that President Bush’s genius ‘surge’ strategy has paid off, thus
discrediting all of his detractors, both at home and abroad?
Is it not ingenious that the Iraq ‘success story’ is now,
retrospectively, associating such upbeat and positive
terminologies - security, peace, safety, hope - with a most
sinister act, that of military invasion of a sovereign country
and the subjugation of its people?
Why isn’t the media asking these questions instead of indulging
in ‘good news’ which is likely to propagate and justify the
unwarranted and humiliating occupation?
There are more sources that are closer to credibility than any
of the ones above. Independent reports such as the survey of
Iraqi households in the Lancet, estimating that by July 2006,
655,000 Iraqis died as a consequence of the war.
UK-based polling agency Opinion Research Business reached even a
higher number, in September 2007, suggested that 1.2 million
people might have died as a result of the war.
But no number can do justice to the hurt felt by Iraqi people,
so many of whom perished by the firepower of their ‘liberators’.
On December 28, 14 Iraqis were reportedly killed, and 64 others
were wounded in a Baghdad Square crowded with shoppers following
the Friday prayer.
I wonder if the many families that collectively share the latest
tragedy in Baghdad will find some peace and comfort in the
figures and statistics issued by the US military and
disseminated cheerfully be the media. I wonder how the people of
the bloody Tayaran Square would respond to the question: “Is
Iraq getting better?” Would any reporter even bother to ask them
their thoughts?
Ramzy Baroud is a Palestinian-American author and editor of
PalestineChronicle.com. His work has been published in numerous
newspapers and journals worldwide. His latest book is The Second
Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle (Pluto
Press, London). Read more about him on his website:
www.ramzybaroud.net
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