25 - 31 October 2001
Issue No.557
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 25 - 31 October 2001 Issue No.557 |
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Reports from the void
What is going on in the US war against Afghanistan? Hardly anybody knows, Thomas Gorguissian reports from Washington
Last Saturday, less than 24 hours after a commando raid on Kandahar, Afghanistan, General Richard B Myers, US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, released an official video from the special mission. In a press briefing at the Pentagon, Myers stressed more than once that: "One of the things that I simply can't do is talk about any of the tactics, techniques and procedures that we use beyond what you've seen on that tape."
Later Jamie McIntyre, CNN's Pentagon correspondent, expressed his anger and frustration about the lack of proper media access, noting that he feels "uncomfortable" with the fact that "the entire version [of the raid] is based on what they told us and the selective video."
At a Pentagon briefing on the same day, Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld told reporters that "Our cause is just, what we're doing is right, and we have absolutely nothing to hide." Many journalists and historians, however, agree that a great deal has been hidden, or simply not revealed, in the current war -- maybe more than ever before.
A conversation that took place on a recent edition of ABC's "World News Tonight" underlines the ongoing reluctance to shed light on the situation. Anchor Peter Jennings led the broadcast with a report on the war coverage, saying, "We've been [at war] three days now, [and] we've had three photographs of bomb damage." Jennings, turning to reporter John McWethy, asked: "Is the Pentagon unable to access what it has done, or just doesn't want to share it with the public?" Replied McWethy: "It appears, Peter, that the Pentagon does not want to share the details of what is going on. They keep saying that it is a different kind of war, and so far it has been a war with very little information."
Very little information and a lot of secrecy. Cloaked by the excuse of "catering to new sensitivities," the traffic of information since the 11 September attacks has been strictly controlled by the government. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, in one of the White House briefings, warned that Americans "need to watch what they say, watch what they do." Fleischer was responding to controversial comments made by comedy talk show host Bill Maher on his late-night show "Politically Incorrect."
The show was briefly suspended amid demands for ABC to stop broadcasting it after Maher's comment questioning whether suicide bombers were actually "cowardly" angered the public. It has also been reported that some columnists have been fired after their writings questioned the "general consensus" over the war against Afghanistan.
ABC's Dan Rather has said, that "professional responsibility" demands that newspeople "remain strongly independent, to keep your scepticism, if not cynicism, intact and remain wary anytime the government seeks to influence editorial decisions in inappropriate ways." Later, however, as patriotic pride swept the nation and no one dared dissent, Rather said "I didn't think that [the government's concerns were] inappropriate."
There has also been serious concern among administration officials about leaks to the press. President George W Bush was reportedly furious at the leaking of "very sensitive material" from briefings for Congressional lawmakers. Some of these leaks were reported in the Washington Post. "This is not just a Washington game for him," a senior administration official said, describing the concern. "Lives are at stake."
Rumsfeld expressed similar frustration on Monday after reports on the US commando raid against Kandahar was leaked to the media while the operation was under way. Consequently, further restrictions were applied, limiting certain briefings to only very specific people.
Another concern is the seemingly omnipresent Al-Jazeera, the Qatar- based Arabic-language satellite news station widely viewed in the Arab world. The station gained international notoriety when it aired the famous statement by top suspect Osama Bin Laden shortly after the beginning of the US strikes in Afghanistan. What was first referred to as Al-Jazeera's "inflammatory rhetoric," combined with more hands-on coverage of the war in Afghanistan, soon came to be seen by the US authorities as "hate propaganda." But Al-Jazeera's coverage has raised the question of whether the messenger should be blamed for the virulence of the message.
Is Al-Jazeera, which reaches 35 million people all over the world -- 150,000 in North America alone -- "hate propaganda," or professional journalism? Either way, Al-Jazeera has became the talk of the nation. Numerous interviews have been conducted with the station's Washington Bureau Chief, Hafez Al-Mirazi in order to understand -- and criticise -- Al-Jazeera's alleged anti-American stance.
It was then reported that the administration had become anxious that it was losing the propaganda war and decided to grant interviews to Al-Jazeera. Officials who were interviewed include William Burns, assistant secretary of state for the Near East, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Secretary of State Colin Powell had already appeared for an interview on 23 September. It was also mentioned that President Bush may be interviewed soon.
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