Hardball has had some positive info on Iraq. "Cyberelert." Welcome aboard, EM!
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MSNBC’s Arnot Sees Iraqis Angry at TV
Coverage, Who “Love” Bush
U.S. TV network news about Iraq as distorted as al-Jazeera? Checking in from Iraq on Wednesday’s Hardball with Chris Matthews as part of that show’s look this week at “Iraq: The Real Story,” Bob Arnot highlighted a Muslim ayatollah in Iraq who “is furious at the press coverage. He says not only American television, but Arabic satellite TV, such as Al-Jazeera and the Abu Dhabi station, have mis-portrayed the great success that is Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein.”
Arnot, MRC analyst Geoffrey Dickens noticed, documented how “Iraqis themselves are angrier than the American administration about the barrage of negative stories coming out of Iraq” on Arab television.
The night before, on Tuesday’s Hardball, Arnot contrasted the negative TV news image of widespread destruction and disgust for Americans with the reality he sees of Iraqis who “love the Americans and their President for cleaning up their streets, providing clean water, opening the schools.” Arnot explained:
“The conventional picture you see out here in Iraq is of angry Iraqis jeering at Americans. But we went to a town right in the heart of the Sunni Triangle which easily could have gone just as bad where they love Americans. Helicopters shot from the sky, military vehicles destroyed by roadside bombs, midnight raids on suspected terrorists. For many Americans watching from home, this is the American military’s fate in Iraq. But there is another reality.”
(On Monday’s Hardball, the November 12 CyberAlert recounted, Arnot contradicted the image of chaos in Iraq hyped by the media. Launching Hardball’s week-long series, “Iraq: The Real Story,” Arnot recounted the challenges faced by troops in hostile areas, but countered the negative image of the Iraqi situation he knows Americans get from TV news. Arnot argued: “The fact is in 85 percent of the country, it’s calm, it’s stable, it’s moving forward.” Touring a shopping area, Arnot relayed how, “from what you see on TV from Baghdad you’d think that, with the mortars and rockets, that this was a city under siege.” In fact, he contended, “nothing could be further from the truth in many neighborhoods.” www.mediaresearch.org )
On the November 12 Hardball, Arnot provided a glimpse into how Iraqis view the anti-U.S. bias of Arab TV news:
“This is one of the most beautiful mosques anywhere in the world. It’s the main mosque in the holy city of Khadamiya, third most religious city in Iraq. We’ve been invited here by the ayatollah. Why? He is furious at the press coverage. He says not only American television, but Arabic satellite TV, such as Al-Jazeera and the Abu Dhabi station, have misportrayed the great success that is Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The people of Khadamiya tell us that the picture painted by Al-Jazeera and other Arab satellite stations is a bleak one of daily death and destruction.
“Khadamiya’s leaders are so eager to show Iraq’s real story that the ayatollah himself sends his top lieutenant with us, Haji Ali [sp]. He acts as our guide, showing us a city of thriving outdoor markets, mosques and schools. In Khadamiya’s main shopping district, business is booming, from sidewalk vendors and vegetable stands, to gold merchants. On the streets, the U.S. Army patrols side by side with Iraqi soldiers, dismounted and at ease. At Khadamiya’s central mosque, pilgrims come from all over Iraq, Iran, even Afghanistan, eager to enjoy the religious freedom they were denied for decades. Khadamiya’s schools are in session, filled with happy children.
“15-year-old Daham [sp] says TV news reports he watches don’t tell the truth.”
Daham: “A lot happens good in Iraq when Saddam gone.”
Arnot: “So a lot happens good in Iraq.”
Daham: “The smile come back in Iraqi kids.”
Arnot: “After school, we visit a new radio and TV station run by Shia, an unheard-of freedom under the old regime. At the station, everyone we talked to agrees the Arab media is not telling the truth about what’s happening here. And Al-Jazeera tops the list. What do you think of Al-Jazeera?”
[Unidentified Iraqi man starts speaking in Arabic]
Arnot: “In English. In English.”
Unidentified man: “I hate them!”
Arnot: “Iraq’s new minister of industry and minerals had this theory about Al-Jazeera.”
Minister: “Well, I don’t know. Probably, they have something against the Americans.”
Arnot concluded: “As we’ve seen, Iraqis themselves are angrier than the American administration about the barrage of negative stories coming out of Iraq, so angry that the ayatollah himself broke the rules and allowed to us come into this, one of the holiest sites in all of Shia Islam, right during the height of Ramadan. Chris, back to you.”
The night before, on the November 11 Hardball, Arnot passed along what he saw in Tachi and Horia in the Sunni triangle where he found improvements made my Americans and an appreciation for it by the local Iraqis:
“Children used to drink filthy water from this ditch. Many sick, some dying of dysentery. Now a new pipeline, built by the Americans, brings the village clean water. But it’s not all waving children and happy smiles. Colonel Slate lives in one of the most dangerous parts of Iraq. Nearly every night he’s attacked, his base hit by mortars. Criminals, Iraqi themselves will soon be tracking down. Better security, clean water, education, more jobs part of a formula Colonel Slate hopes will win the toughest fight of his life.”
In a second segment, Arnot found Iraqis who “love” Americans: “Chris, you know, the conventional picture you see out here in Iraq is of angry Iraqis jeering at Americans. But we went to a town right in the heart of the Sunni Triangle which easily could have gone just as bad where they love Americans. Helicopters shot from the sky, military vehicles destroyed by roadside bombs, midnight raids on suspected terrorists. For many Americans watching from home, this is the American military’s fate in Iraq. But there is another reality.”
“American G.I.s swarmed by friendly children, who want to speak English and love the Americans and their President for cleaning up their streets, providing clean water, opening the schools. They meet with cooperative village leaders, keeping the banks up and running, and get regular leads on who the bad guys are.
“Meet Captain Gabe Barton, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, on patrol in Horia [sp], a village just outside Baghdad. His day begins at the local school, where his soldiers are protecting schoolchildren threatened by terrorists, side by side with enthusiastic Iraqi soldiers of the new civil defense corps. At the police station, heavily defended against suicide bombers, he confers with a cordial chief of police, a police force patrolling Horia by themselves, using the U.S. military only as a backup. Next the bank, which his men help Iraqis keep safe enough, that locals deposit their money willingly and where there’s never been a run on the bank.”
Arnot, over vide of Capt. Gabe Barton having discussion with an Iraqi soldier: “That cooperation between American soldiers and Iraqi police has kept Horia’s economy up and running.”
Barton: “People need to have confidence that, if they deposit their money here, they’re gonna be able to come back and get it out.”
Arnot: “Back on the streets, these Iraqi army officers are standing post for the first time, a development welcomed by Gabe.”
Capt. Barton: “It shows the Iraqi people that we are not here for ourselves. We are not here for other reasons, we are here to help them create a better place to live.”
Arnot acknowledged not all is perfect: “Horia is a spectacular success, but there are also bad towns, Abu Ghraib among the worst, called, 'Little Mogadishu,’ by G.I.s. Here, 3rd Brigade conducted the largest military operation since the war, with over a dozen Kiowa gunships, M1-A1 tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, airborne and infantry companies side by side. Hours later, they conduct this nighttime raid in search of a man financing attacks on coalition soldiers. This is more a money guy, is it?”
Barton: “He is involved in the financing and support of the cell that he operates, yes.”
Arnot: “So this is who you might call the head of the snake?”
Barton: “Yes.”
Arnot: “The combined operations yield a treasure trove of weapons and cash used to finance terrorism. That combination of targeted strikes and community development has turned over 85 percent of this country into an under-reported success. Money is what allows these commanders to basically win hearts and minds. Now, the key source of that, Chris, was something called the Commanders Emergency Relief Fund. Those funds have virtually dried up, leaving commanders without the most important weapon they have in terms of winning hearts and minds and winning this war here in Iraq, Chris.”
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