Saturday, May 08, 2004

Need any more?

Sabbar, 36, comes from a Shiite family with a long history of opposition to the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein. He bears a dent-like scar on his right cheek: a Saddam lieutenant sliced him eight years ago as punishment for his cousin's attempt to assassinate the dictator's son Uday.

Sabbar cheered when the US Army marched through his home town of Nasiriyah just over a year ago. He quickly shed his Iraqi army uniform ("I spent most of my military career deserting") and looked hopefully to a new, free future. That he should become Exhibit A in the case against US abuse of Iraqis is one of the many painful ironies of this story.
  article

Of course these things are horrendous. And of course I am glad they are now getting published. But I am not at all encouraged that we can expect any media reform to come from it. After this dies away, will "journalists" be willing to investigate other stories? Will "reporters" be willing to report anything that isn't sanctioned by the government? Or anything that would embarrass the U.S.?

These stories and these claims have been out there from the beginning. Why weren't they given press when the claims were made? How many torture cases might have been prevented if they had? And what about the backlash and U.S. personnel deaths which were claimed to merely be the result of freedom-hating radicals that might have been prevented?

Who is willing to accept some culpability? Any journalists who refused to give any press to these stories, because you're either with us or against us? For the sake of national security? Backfire have any meaning now?

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are moderated. There may be some delay before your comment is published. It all depends on how much time M has in the day. But please comment!