Time magazine's recent cover story on Islam, "The Struggle Within," has alerted us to some of the mistakes made in the Iraq war. One of those mistakes, rectified by the new Iraqi interim government, was allowing the Arab television network Al-Jazeera to broadcast from Iraq.
| Under normal circumstances, we don't interfere with press and broadcast activities, even if they're not on our side, an extension of the idea of free press to the rest of the world. Al Jizz takes this courtesy and abuses it. If all they did was report from the other side, there would be no real problem. By actively taking sides they cross the line. |
The Time magazine article, written by Bill Powell, has several references to how images of the conflict have fed the fires of the terrorist assault against our troops and the people of Iraq. American news organizations have broadcast the same images, but they were given more power and authority through Al-Jazeera, known as a mouthpiece for al Qaeda.
| Al Jizz has broadcast quite a few images that the American news organizations wouldn't touch with a 12-foot pole. Americans don't have the fascination for pictures of corpses, mutilation and murder that Arabs seem to. |
Sheik Khale, an Imam in Cairo, is quoted as saying, "Most of the pictures we see are of Iraqi heads stepped on by American Army boots." Musdah Mulia, a Muslim scholar in Indonesia, says that "moderates" in the religion "are finding it more difficult to discuss issues like human rights and democracy when photos of Americans torturing Iraqis keep appearing."
| I'd call that mere evidence that human beings tend to zero in on what supports their own side. Images of Iraqi heads stepped on by American boots are outnumbered by pictures of infidels having their heads lopped off. |
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