Salon’s War Room presents Fox’s coverage as a case of especially shoddy journalism regarding Iran’s alleged provision of arms to forces hostile to the US in Iraq:
Let’s say for the sake of argument that the administration is right on two key points: that Iranian arms are indeed flowing into Iraq and that it’s happening with the approval of the Iranian government. Even if that’s true, there’s still a big logical hole in the reasoning of much of the press’s reporting on the issue. That’s especially true of this article, beginning in just the first sentence: “The White House stuck to its guns Monday, insisting it had clear evidence that Tehran approved the shipment of weapons — including deadly bomb-making materials — to Shiite militants for use against U.S. forces in Iraq.”
What’s the problem there? Well, simply that weapons supplied by Iran to Shiite militias would be far more likely to be used in sectarian violence against Sunnis than against U.S. troops. As Salon contributor Juan Cole has already pointed out on his blog, the majority — by far — of U.S. deaths in Iraq are caused by Sunnis, not Shiites. Beyond that, the weapons allegedly supplied by Iran are flowing to U.S. allies in Iraq.
Here’s another problem with the current Iran/Iraq coverage. Why are so many media outlets letting the White House frame the allegedly inevitable consequences? Why are we so happy to assume, along with the White House, that IF the Iranians are providing arms to our enemies, that the only logical response would be war against Iran? As though there are no other options . . .
And who is providing all of those handguns that are killing so many Americans in American cities? Big American corporations, you say? If providing arms that kill Americans justifies war, isn’t it time for the U.S. to declare war on Smith & Wesson?
Thank God blogs are starting to force a crack into the uber control culture of the corporate media. Interesting blog, I will have to book mark you.
† Post Tenebras Lux
After the darkness the light
One solution would be to impose a 7-day waiting period for any terrorist who wants to buy an RPG.
If the Iranians are supplying the Shi'ia, and the Shi'ia are our allies, shouldn't we be thanking them?
If the Shi'ia aren't our allies, then why are we supporting their control of the post-war Iraqi government?
Does W have a clue about what's going on in Iraq?
If General Patreus thinks a short term escalation of "combat troops" to one area of Iraq will allow for anything other than the folks causing the problems to quite down for a while or withdraw and re-arm, he's a bigger idiot than Bush. The sectarian warfare we're in the middle of in Iraq doesn't fit any definition of an insurgency which assumes an "us" and "them".
In Iraq we have "us", leftover Ba'athists, Sunni militias, Shi'ia militias, the Kurds, presumably some jihadists, and any other group which wants instability. We have "us" and "them" and "them" and "them" and "them", and other "thems". And now, we have absolute confirmation of Douglas Feith's attempts to cook the the pre-war intelligence to falsely support ties between Saddam and al Qaeda. These guys are clueless.
Speaking of Fox "News" misrepresenting the Iraq occupation, I noticed yesterday that Fox didn't mention anything about the nearly 200,000 U.S. weapons that have gone missing in Iraq. It was front page news on one of my local newspapers, but Fox said nothing about it at all. In fact, during the entire half hour program, they didn't even mention Iraq. Must be a new definition of "fair and balanced" that hasn't yet made it into my dictionary.