In the past three years, Bush administration officials have
mentioned “Iraq” and “democracy” so often
in the same breath you would think they knew what they meant. But
apparently not.
Recent reports have revealed that U.S. military officials and a
U.S.-contracted firm have been writing articles, translating them
into Arabic, and planting them in Iraqi newspapers as impartial
stories written by independent journalists.
The articles usually emphasize successes of the U.S. or Iraqi
armies, or laud the determination of Iraqis to defeat terrorism.
Though they do not distort facts per se, the reports often ignore
or downplay other sides to the story that would be unfavorable to
the U.S. or the U.S.-installed Iraqi government.
In some instances, U.S. military officials paid Iraqi newspapers
anywhere from $50 to $1,200 to print the articles. While some
newspapers labeled the articles as “paid
advertisements,” others ran them as unbiased news stories
that were impossible to tell apart from other staff-produced
editorial content, according to the Los Angeles Times. None of the
articles mentioned their connection to the U.S. military.
These revelations came on the heels of Bush’s speech at
the Naval Academy in Annapolis, during which he declared that
“democracy” is taking hold in Iraq and that Iraqis are
“defending their new democracy with courage and
determination.” Unfortunately for Iraqis, it appears that as
they defend their fledgling and vulnerable democracy against armed
insurgents, they’re being undermined by purported allies in
Washington, D.C.
The action of paying newspapers to print false news stories is
so blatantly hypocritical of the Bush administration, it almost
defies description. We’ll check our dictionaries, but
isn’t “freedom of the press” one of the
cornerstones of democracy and the First Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution?
Perhaps more perplexing is what kind of message U.S. government
and military leaders are hoping to send by doing this. Telling
Iraqis that they must have free speech and a free press while
feeding them one-sided articles under the counter is akin to a
doctor telling patients they need to live healthy lives while
passing out cigarettes.
And telling American soldiers they are bleeding and dying to
defend democracy in Iraq is sounding more and more dishonest.
It’s sad that over 2,100 American troops have died to drive
out a dictator who, among other things, suppressed the freedom of
the press, only to see the same thing happen again.
The official reaction from the White House is a surprise. Press
Secretary Scott McClellan told reporters Thursday that Bush was
“very concerned” about the fake news reports and that
he was “seeking more information from the
Pentagon.”
It’s hard to believe a strategy of this scope was not
floated to the White House beforehand. But regardless, either this
nation is led by an administration that is outright lying when it
says it wants to bring democracy to Iraq, or it is led by an
administration that doesn’t know what its subordinates are up
to.
We don’t find either scenario to be incredibly
comforting.