The press narrative
Reading and especially watching TV coverage of two stories today stuck me how mainstream media is stuck in two eeyore narratives:
On the Iraqi constitution, a week’s delay is seen as a defeat. But, of course, we should compare that with our own heritage: 16 months to negotiate articles of confederation that were a disaster; 13 years from the Declaration of Independence before we ended up with a constitution and a government. And we had an advantage: We weren’t murdering each other.
On the Gaza pullout, the narrative is about the fight from the settlers. But the bigger story is the process for peace: Israel took a step forward and so now, what about you, Palestinians?
August 15th, 2005 at 8:50 pm
Of course it is seen as a defeat. Bush has been very big on artificial political deadlines as progress in the war–to give the appearance of progress even as US soldiers are dropping like flies. This is a defeat for one of Bush’s many pyrrhic symbols of “success.”
August 15th, 2005 at 9:09 pm
One disturbing aspect of the Gaza coverage has been that no one has reported who is footing the bill: the U.S. taxpayer, to the tune of $2 billion.
Oddly, reporters have ignored this basic fact all day long.
Finally, about 8:45 p.m., a Fox News reporter in Gaza mentioned that each family “has been promised between $150,000 and $400,000″ in compensation “by the Israeli government.” But he didn’t add the very salient fact that the money is coming from the U.S. Treasury.
For that matter, the annual U.S. aid of $3 billion each to Egypt and Israel is almost never discussed in the MSM.
It’s sad when you have to start reading between the lines — or searching the net — to find out what is really going on.
August 15th, 2005 at 11:00 pm
What will the “palestinians” do? Why they will do what they have done since i can remember: Everything in their power to wipe out the Jews. I can only hope that when rockets start falling on Tel Aviv from the Gaza, the IDF carpet bombs where ever they come from.
August 16th, 2005 at 12:03 am
Skate’s message is another example of the mindlessness of lefty defeatism. Political deadlines (e.g., July 4 1776) are an essential part of a nation-building process and there is nothing artificial about the progress they symbolize. He probably does not know what ‘pyrrhic’ means. It means a victory that was too costly. Why does he call the Iraqi constitution a costly victory? It has not cost anything. American soldiers are not ‘dropping like flies,’ casualties have been declining for a long time. It is the insurgents who are dropping like flies. All that would be going on regardless of progress on the constitution.
August 16th, 2005 at 12:38 am
How about is narrative:
“The Myth of the Bush Doctrine.”
August 16th, 2005 at 12:59 am
If anyone wants to look at a graph showing that U.S. troops are not dropping like flies, they can always download the current Iraq Index from the Brookings Institute. We have had more casualties lately because of Operation Quick Strike, which barely gets a mention in the MSM, because seem are unable or unwilling to put any Iraq news into context.
August 16th, 2005 at 1:44 am
Look, when Bush promotes artificial deadlines for processes divorced from some or all of their supposed meaning as the “good news” about Iraq, and the current said deadline can’t even be met, you had better believe that’s going to get a well deserved bit of critical attention. The administration sacrificed throughness for timeliness in pushing the Iraqis to complete a constitution, but of course they will get neither. The NY Times reports that the issues left unsettled include the role of Islam, women’s rights, oil revenues and the creation of a sub-national Shia zone, so, only the biggest issues there are. Jeff, as you yourself note, these things take time to be settled out. So why are the people running our country so oblivious to that fact? This is not some secret wisdom, it’s common sense. When Bush fails by the metric he’s set it will be remarked upon as bad news, and rightly so.
August 16th, 2005 at 8:27 am
The Israelis need to make a much bigger step than this gesture. Quite what you expect the Palestinians to do is a mystery? Stop wishing for a viable homeland. Any settlement is going to have to be imposed by Israel but it should be based on 1967 borders.
Karl no one said American troops are dropping like flies… its all relative. Its just going on for 3 years you can’t drive from the airport to Baghdad central without an armed escort and the war is costing the US taxpayer $5bn a month while a country fractures… thats not wise spending… the reason no one is reporting success is because unless Americans define success as an Iranian influenced theocratic state there isn’t much success
August 16th, 2005 at 9:20 am
Are we back to using the “Eeyore” gambit? Doesn’t the Disney corporation own the rights to all Winnie The Pooh material? They should sue your ass so that it forces you to come up with an original argument for a change.
August 16th, 2005 at 9:38 am
Other Jeremy, you said “The Israelis need to make a much bigger step than this gesture. Quite what you expect the Palestinians to do is a mystery?”
It’s not that tough - neither side in the conflict is going to just throw its hands up and say “that’s it, I give” - that would be perceived asd a sign of weakness. Instead, what are needed are small trust-building steps; that’s the only way the two sides are going to get to any reasonable compromise. So Israel has taken a step, and the Palestinians need to reciprocate to show they’re on board for moving towards co-existence. A good first step would be to insure that Gaza is not used as a base for launching further attacks.
August 16th, 2005 at 10:01 am
Oh, and Gunther: Learn a little copyright law before you say stupid stuff.
August 16th, 2005 at 10:56 am
Teddy R. makes a good point. The Gaza withdrawal, which is in reality a wide-scale eviction, is costing the U.S. plenty. In addition to the 2.8 billion our government provides to Israel each year, they are now asking for an additional 2.2 billion to aid with the “relocation” and Bush is seriously considering that request. The Bush administration is more than willing to take credit for placating the Palestinians, but it doesn’t seem to want the American people to know how much it is costing.
The extension of the constitution deadline in Iraq IS somewhat of a defeat for Bush. As others have said, he insisted on the deadline in the first place. I don’t think comparisons to the writing of our constitution are legitimate. Nobody invaded our country with the intention of forcing freedom and democracy upon us.
August 16th, 2005 at 1:02 pm
Gee, I missed the part where Jeff argued that missing the deadline should be reported as good news. I only saw the part where he argued that it isn’t defeat, which is the tone of much of the coverage.
August 16th, 2005 at 2:05 pm
If this national assembly does not have the mindset required to produce a meaningful Iraqi constitution, then it is best to dissolve and re-elect the assembly than settle for a prop. It is more important to get it right, than to get it “right now.â€
As Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari noted, “We should not be hasty regarding the issues and the constitution should not be born crippled.†The constitution must be meaningful – a living, breathing document that can be a foundation for the long road towards a real democracy in a united Iraq.
August 16th, 2005 at 3:13 pm
I’m in Baghdad, watching the process very closely like the rest of us, and the extension is a good thing - a very good thing - as opposed to rushing through an incomplete document that is intended to be around for a couple decades at least. I fear I’m required to disclose that I’m no fan of the administration for this to be believed, or reveal my big “D” dem roots, but that is of no importance.
The Constitutional Committee (and the TNA generally) debated serious issues in a civil manner, and then as the deadline approached they overwhelmingly agreed that they couldn’t agree, and then lawfully and deliberately achieved unanimous consent in a fractious legislature to give themselves sufficient time to hammer out their differences. No threats of violence, no cursing out in over-the-top, vituperative language - a very positive development for this country and this region generally. If there were any way to note how happy I was with this result without appearing patronizing (to my Iraqi colleagues, not any Westerners) I would. They were hugging at the end - Sunni, Kurds and Shia. Lord how I wish the sniping I hear about back home would just cease and that we could recognize how earth-shatteringly important this work is.
As Mr. Jarvis notes - get some perspective. George Washington thought that the Great Compromise (which established a bicameral legislature with both proportionate representation in the House and equal state representation in the Senate) doomed the government, where as now most historians consider it critical to the stability of the Republic. I recognize that analogies such as this are strained, but the principle - this is tough work no matter where you are - is sound.
I know I’m beating the air with my fists on this, but here goes: Hate GWB all you want, vote for the most radical dem you want (though I will continue to hug the middle), but for once be a little lucid when you evaluate the facts and sling no more affirmative defenses (also known as “yeah, buts”) and try to refute the substance in a reasoned, dispassionate manner for a change. These people are risking their and their families lives in the course of an impassioned philosophical debate about the future of their country. I submit that the Iraqis are engaged in a process worthy of respect regardless of political affiliation. This submission may be rebuttable by reasoned argument, but the “yeah, buts” are non-responsive and effectively transformed by repetition into rote white noise.
August 16th, 2005 at 4:30 pm
“Nobody invaded our country with the intention of forcing freedom and democracy upon us.”
In the 18th century we saw freedom and democracy were self evidently positive. But I guess the jury is out in the 21st.
August 16th, 2005 at 4:58 pm
Agree with Jeff and MPF post above. As someone that I suspect voted opposite from both, I appreciate people who are reasonable about things that are so important.
A lot of us never fully understood the need to attack a country that had never attacked us……..no……..not Iraq, I am talking central Europe. *But* we commented on it “at the time” and then shut up when the fighting started. People can disagree about foreign policy, but we elect our leaders to make their best judgements. After they make their judgement, I think all Americans need to fight for that foreign policy to be successful, instead of fighting each other. You get an opportunity every 4 years to elect your own little foreign policy czar.
And yes Jeff, I would say one side has shown their good faith on the pullout and I am waiting to see how the other responds. I am watching a lot of tears on TV, even the soldiers are crying as they do their duty by evicting those people. The point is that they are carrying out their elected leaders policies and everyone should get behind these efforts.
August 16th, 2005 at 5:19 pm
I just hope Gaza doesn’t become a terrorist state from which it becomes easier to attack those pesky Jews. Hamas sees it as that anyways. It is money well spent if it helps bring peace. That will be up to the Palestinians.
http://www.albawaba.com/en/news/187697
August 16th, 2005 at 6:01 pm
Jeff is right about how long our Constitution took to formulate and agree on. I would add a further historical note. At the end of the Revolution at least 100,000 “loyalists” were expelled or fled from the 13states. Would that we would do that for The Saddamites…
August 16th, 2005 at 6:47 pm
And we had our own homegrown insurgency to go with it! Anybody remember the Whiskey Rebellion, when Washington actually put on his old uniform as Commander in Chief?
August 16th, 2005 at 6:59 pm
“But he didn’t add the very salient fact that the money is coming from the U.S. Treasury. For that matter, the annual U.S. aid of $3 billion each to Egypt and Israel is almost never discussed in the MSM.”
Most of the US “aid” to Israel is loan guarantees and joint military development programs. Israel has never defaulted on its loans and makes very good military hardware. It also has more startups per capita than any country in the world and is the world leader in biomedical innovation.
I wonder if Egypt can say the same?
Also you don’t mention all the aid the US has given to the Palestinians, most of which went for bombs or into Arafat’s Swiss accounts.
August 16th, 2005 at 9:46 pm
A German looks at Europe’s approach to Islamic Terror
“EUROPE - THY NAME IS COWARDICE
Commentary by Mathias Dapfner, Chief Executive of the huge German
publisher Axel Springer AG. He has written a blistering attack in DIE
WELT, Germany’s largest daily newspaper, against the timid reaction of
Europe in the face of the Islamic threat.”
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=16565
August 16th, 2005 at 9:56 pm
This is a statement from muslim groups in response to Britain’s measures.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,15935,1550073,00.html
August 16th, 2005 at 10:41 pm
Kat, the same story is here. http://forum.chronwatch.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20245
Scrolling down that page…..A commenter named “Lance” made the following observations on it ….his comments are in italics below…I cleaned them up a bit where noted.
Quote:
Thus anyone even verbally opposing the illegal invasion of Iraq, for example, could in future be made out to be justifying and supporting “acts of terrorism” and prosecuted.
“what (delete……) hypocrites these people are! They recently lobbied government to have laws passed that will prevent criticism of Islam. If these laws are passed, anyone speaking out against Islam could be prosecuted!”
Quote:
The Muslim community in Britain has unequivocally denounced acts of terrorism.
“But does little to help combat it. They protest at being targeted for stop and search operations. Many even sympathise and support the London bombers ………. “
Quote:
The proposal to deport and/or extradite foreign nationals to countries known for gross human rights abuses is abhorrent to a civilised nation, irrelevant of whether or not a diplomatic assurance that deportees will not be mistreated is obtained.
“And the extremist (delete) who praise and encourage terrorism on our shores; who publicly state their hatred and contempt for the country that offered them a home; who burn our national flag on the streets of Britain and declare that all Britons are legitimate targets, are not abusing our human rights?”
August 16th, 2005 at 10:49 pm
This guy has “A Modest Proposal”
“Heck, I’d even be happy to move all the Jews out of Israel and into one of our northern states. If they could turn the desert into a garden, think what they could do with North Dakota. “
http://chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=16242
August 17th, 2005 at 12:25 pm
Ravo
I thought you were just having a better rant day than me but I went over and read that “Europe, Thy Name is Cowardice”. Probably you, me and 3 other people read it, but it was powerful. Pretty much sums up how I have felt about this business of terrorism.
Everyone makes mistakes but inaction can be more deadly. Do it even if you do it wrong, but at least …….do something. They are coming here, regardless. I see no reason to appease them and make it easy. A political power play to rule with Sharia, hiding under the label religion. We are infidels (non-persons) so it is okay to kill us in our beds. Okayyyyy but only if I can’t find you first.
It would be helpful if our media would educate the public. Tell them exactly which countries this slow infiltration has taken place and then HEADLINE when a new area of Sharia has been formed. But no they are too busy. After all they have to cover “the mother” that spoke at a fundraiser to raise money for that terrorist lawyer, Lynne Stewart. Stewart tried to pass terrorist messages. I understand “the mother”, as she was a anti anything American before her son’s death. I just don’t understand the media showing their agenda so openly. So no, I don’t expect to see any articles in the MSM about the real war. They are busy. They found the jackpot and this time, at least it is not about how nasty those ole Americans are treating those nice terrorists.
Okay, sorry OT rant.