Sunday, June 01, 2008

No News On Iraq!!

It is the same curious man I see him at work from time to time. a couple of weeks ago we had lunch together – among other colleagues. We talked about everything, as usual, joked about different things, and before the end of the lunch I could see the question written in his eyes. He managed to steel some silence in between the different subjects and jokes and dropped the question: “how are things in Iraq? It has been some time since the last time I saw some news about Iraq? and with semi-confidence he added "I heard it is getting better and better... I think the new troops surge last year helped improving the situation after all!”

That question reminds me of a story a cousin of mine told me long ago. He used to study in the United Kingdom from late 1970’s to late 1980’s when he went back to Iraq – something he regret to this day, as far as I know because instead of having the government taking advantage of his expertise and higher education in the field of technology, he has been dumped for years to come as a soldier in the Iraqi army. After a period of depression like sitting alone in a dark room, eating very little and smoke more than a coal train can make, his father managed to get him serve military services in the capital Baghdad till the end of the second gulf war where he was released afterwards, arranged his traveling papers and left Iraq for good to this day.

In mid 1980’s that cousin of mine decided to spend his New Year’s vacation with his faily and among his relatives in Iraq. During that time Iraq was engaged deeply in the war against Iran and more and more lives were eaten up by this slaughtering machine called warfare. On one of these days, I was at his house, and he told me how someone sent a letter to the BBC wondering why is that no more coverage for the war between Iraq and Iran as it used to be in the early years?

Back to today and seeing the same question being popped up, also from a person who lives in the west, I decided to follow the news here on Iraq more carefully, not that I don't follow the news in Iraq, but I decided to check out different channels and focus mainly on Dutch news. The man was right, the coverage of the news in Iraq compare it to the real events on the street is far from being the same!

It did not bother me when that colleague asked me about the lack of news about Iraq on TV. What bothered me most is my colleague's comment about the improvement of the situation when he said "... I guess the new troops surge last year helped improving the situation after all..." That was like a slap on my head, because from the news we get from people we know in Iraq and what we read on the internet the situation did not improve, not even a little, because there is still self-suicide attacks, still people are being killed, still men and women are fleeing the country in thousands... so I don't see the improvement whatsoever that make the western public believe in such, and that the U.S. government did find the solution to the problem when they added more troops. Not to forget the new propaganda in these days about the "Armageddon of Iraq" that has began a couple of days ago, where the last battle will be taken place in Mosul (north of Iraq) to get rid of the Al Qaeda forever! However, I believe more pumping into the war propaganda is needed, especially that "Iron Man" or "Indiana Jones" latest blockbusters do carry more interesting action scenes indeed.

Yet, I am not a clairvoyant, so I can't say when will be the big end scene (Like in any other movie where we see an end to the story) but I am sure there will be another big action scene close to the presidential elections in the United States... we will see suddenly Bin Laden broadcasting another of his threatening messages, we will see the danger alert level in the United States rises to Red because of a possible terrorist attack, we will see rising in the number of suicide attacks and more policemen get killed...etc All part of the same tragic reality show: just a dynamic movement of events ups and downs with whatever situation that maybe. However, one thing remains static for certain: More Iraqis are either displaced or killed!

media strike image courtesy of Sfinal

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

No improvement in Iraq since the "surge" began? Are you kidding? From virtually every imaginable corner of the earth, including Iraq itself, the situation there has changed - and rather significantly so at that. Does there continue to be suicide bombings, kidnappings, outright murders and other aggregious acts of violence going on in Iraq today? Absolutely! But to compare the actual pain and suffering of today versus that which predated the "surge", and then even suggest that they are somehow the same, is nothing short of ludicrous - if not total insanity. It would seem to me that the idiot writing this "article"(?) needs to see a doctor (shrink), take a pill - or something - anything for whatever it is that is making him/her so delusional, go home and get a whole bunch of rest and then maybe at some point (if possible) rethink the meaning of reality. Because he/she is far, far from even having a clue.

Chelsea + Shiloh said...

What a narrow minded person you are, you've given no evidence to back what you say, if at all you have said anything. Instead you chose to insult the writer of this blog and post without having the balls to sign it, instead writing 'anonymously'

When and if you have something meaningful or concrete to say then do so, otherwise refrain from flitting from blog to blog (yes Ive followed your ip address) insulting those who are at least trying to understand the situation in Iraq and the bias of the media.

MixMax said...

Anon, you are right, I heard that Iraq became now so peaceful that people compare it happily with Switzerland!!!

Trust me on this, I do have a clue on everything going in Iraq, otherwise I wouldn't write such an article, but I guess there is some misunderstaning from your part: it is just simple English language article that surpass your level of intelligence!