thedrifter
07-20-08, 10:18 AM
Editorials
People die, but lies don't
Published: Thursday, June 8, 2006 10:15 AM EDT
June 9, 2006
The media is now fully engaged with the alleged massacre in the Iraqi town of Haditha last March. With each retelling, the implication of U.S. culpability grows. Right now, we don't know all the facts, and we're sure nobody else does either, but the "authoritative accounts" multiply without any new information while the media buzz and innuendo increase exponentially. This reminds us of the orchestrated media circus that surrounded the alleged killing of 12-year-old Muhammed al Dura in Gaza a few years ago.
The airwaves then were full of images of al Dura's death as they are now about Haditha. The narrative expanded with every showing. Emotion-laden images of this type make rebuttal impossible because they convey an inherent inhumanity that is irrefutable and cast an aura of undeniable innocence on the victims. But often images have little to do with the facts. Pictres supply neither context nor explanation.
Still, articles flow from the moving images. The most heart-wrenching frames in the videos become pictures that are printed alongside every article written. Together they create a brand for the incident and in every telling, the al Dura event became an indictment of Israel, her soldiers and the use of force for self-defense.
For the cynical few, a warning bell sounded when it turned out that the whole episode was single sourced. More bells went off when that the source became evasive and his past was found to be unreliable. Other bits and pieces should have given pause to an overwrought media: no autopsy to verify cause of death and a body that was whisked away in a conveniently waiting ambulance. No medical staff from the hospital available for comment. Contradictory information on these and other things built a strong case for media circumspection, especially when evidence of preplanning and rehearsal of the event showed up on a video. But circumspection wasn't forthcoming.
When several independent inquiries separately concluded that all wasn't as it seemed in those first accounts, no one was listening. For example, where the boy was in relation to where the Israelis were positioned made it almost impossible for an IDF bullet to have killed him. The
same media that frothed over the emotional images and faulty narrative had lost interest.
Often-told stories frequently embellished gain lives of their own. The first version of an incident is fully accepted as it travels from Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera to the front page of the New York Times. The victim is defined in emotional terms, and the brutality of the perpetrator is established. An incident like the alleged kiliing of Muhammed al Dura morphs from a singular event to an enduring symbol for the whole 100 years of Arab-Israeli struggle.
Haditha now has that al Dura feel to it, and if the media persists. it too will become a negative symbol for everything the U.S. has done in Iraq.
First, the redundant images that fill CNN and Al Jazeera; the continuous loop of film that the cable networks use so annoyingly. More media outlets join the feeding frenzy, using the same film as backdrop for their own commentary. Many words and less corroboration.
In Haditha itself, there is the testimony of two "survivors." Forty-eight hours after this story reemerged (it has been under investigation at the Defense Department for several months now) and was given wide play in the media, more than 30,000 references to 12-year-old Safa Younis and 9-year-old Iman Waleed were posted on the internet. Their narratives were well prepared and meticulously coached. They don't equivocate. They accuse United States Marines of premeditated brutality.
The Younis interview aired on CNN however, is like a grade C movie. Her lines were well-spoken, but she didn't convey deep feeling. There are a number of possible explanations for this, but when the transcripts from other interviews given by Younis show up elsewhere, they tell different stories. But by now, it doesn't matter. The timing and sequence of facts don't match, but the incident itself is being eclipsed by the symbol being created. It is the potency of that symbol that matters most to the media. Everything they've already said about the incident is taken to be true. Like the Muhammed al Dura incident, where no Israeli could be without fault, no Marine at Haditha can be innocent, and no Marine in Iraq is without blame.
It is likely that there is some wrongdoing here. To what extent, we don't know. But what is clear right now, today, is that the rush to judgment is not merely unseemly, but is wrong. It smears and it harms. It harms those still in the field serving their country. It harms those our soldiers protect. And it does great damage to the truth. When there is a final version of a meticulously corroborated truth, it won't be possible for it to find its proper context because initial impressions have created a reality of their own.
Those hundreds of thousands of Americans who have given of themselves to build a better place in the world will matter little. According to the media, Haditha is Abu Ghraib and Abu Ghraib is what Iraq is all about, and America is deeply mired in a failed mission.
When the facts are known, the accusation will have traveled around the world thousands of times, and the truth will never be able to catch up.
--nrg
Ellie
People die, but lies don't
Published: Thursday, June 8, 2006 10:15 AM EDT
June 9, 2006
The media is now fully engaged with the alleged massacre in the Iraqi town of Haditha last March. With each retelling, the implication of U.S. culpability grows. Right now, we don't know all the facts, and we're sure nobody else does either, but the "authoritative accounts" multiply without any new information while the media buzz and innuendo increase exponentially. This reminds us of the orchestrated media circus that surrounded the alleged killing of 12-year-old Muhammed al Dura in Gaza a few years ago.
The airwaves then were full of images of al Dura's death as they are now about Haditha. The narrative expanded with every showing. Emotion-laden images of this type make rebuttal impossible because they convey an inherent inhumanity that is irrefutable and cast an aura of undeniable innocence on the victims. But often images have little to do with the facts. Pictres supply neither context nor explanation.
Still, articles flow from the moving images. The most heart-wrenching frames in the videos become pictures that are printed alongside every article written. Together they create a brand for the incident and in every telling, the al Dura event became an indictment of Israel, her soldiers and the use of force for self-defense.
For the cynical few, a warning bell sounded when it turned out that the whole episode was single sourced. More bells went off when that the source became evasive and his past was found to be unreliable. Other bits and pieces should have given pause to an overwrought media: no autopsy to verify cause of death and a body that was whisked away in a conveniently waiting ambulance. No medical staff from the hospital available for comment. Contradictory information on these and other things built a strong case for media circumspection, especially when evidence of preplanning and rehearsal of the event showed up on a video. But circumspection wasn't forthcoming.
When several independent inquiries separately concluded that all wasn't as it seemed in those first accounts, no one was listening. For example, where the boy was in relation to where the Israelis were positioned made it almost impossible for an IDF bullet to have killed him. The
same media that frothed over the emotional images and faulty narrative had lost interest.
Often-told stories frequently embellished gain lives of their own. The first version of an incident is fully accepted as it travels from Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera to the front page of the New York Times. The victim is defined in emotional terms, and the brutality of the perpetrator is established. An incident like the alleged kiliing of Muhammed al Dura morphs from a singular event to an enduring symbol for the whole 100 years of Arab-Israeli struggle.
Haditha now has that al Dura feel to it, and if the media persists. it too will become a negative symbol for everything the U.S. has done in Iraq.
First, the redundant images that fill CNN and Al Jazeera; the continuous loop of film that the cable networks use so annoyingly. More media outlets join the feeding frenzy, using the same film as backdrop for their own commentary. Many words and less corroboration.
In Haditha itself, there is the testimony of two "survivors." Forty-eight hours after this story reemerged (it has been under investigation at the Defense Department for several months now) and was given wide play in the media, more than 30,000 references to 12-year-old Safa Younis and 9-year-old Iman Waleed were posted on the internet. Their narratives were well prepared and meticulously coached. They don't equivocate. They accuse United States Marines of premeditated brutality.
The Younis interview aired on CNN however, is like a grade C movie. Her lines were well-spoken, but she didn't convey deep feeling. There are a number of possible explanations for this, but when the transcripts from other interviews given by Younis show up elsewhere, they tell different stories. But by now, it doesn't matter. The timing and sequence of facts don't match, but the incident itself is being eclipsed by the symbol being created. It is the potency of that symbol that matters most to the media. Everything they've already said about the incident is taken to be true. Like the Muhammed al Dura incident, where no Israeli could be without fault, no Marine at Haditha can be innocent, and no Marine in Iraq is without blame.
It is likely that there is some wrongdoing here. To what extent, we don't know. But what is clear right now, today, is that the rush to judgment is not merely unseemly, but is wrong. It smears and it harms. It harms those still in the field serving their country. It harms those our soldiers protect. And it does great damage to the truth. When there is a final version of a meticulously corroborated truth, it won't be possible for it to find its proper context because initial impressions have created a reality of their own.
Those hundreds of thousands of Americans who have given of themselves to build a better place in the world will matter little. According to the media, Haditha is Abu Ghraib and Abu Ghraib is what Iraq is all about, and America is deeply mired in a failed mission.
When the facts are known, the accusation will have traveled around the world thousands of times, and the truth will never be able to catch up.
--nrg
Ellie