2008 started not with a bang but with a gas bag.
It does not bode well for the rest of the year.
As Ruth points out in her latest report, the radio program CounterSpin elected to air a best-of last week and, despite having a few things of value, felt that 2007 in Iraq could best be told with someone yet again trotting out stories from 2004 as opposed to the co-author of a 2007 report on realities Iraqis were currently living with.
Celine Nahory: Well, at the very moment the US is actually imposing another siege on Falluja. There were two in 2004 and there is one going on right now -- for about a month now. But Falluja is absolutely not the only city on which there have been assaults. Part of the "anti-insurgency operation" that the US is pursuing in Iraq. A dozen other cities have suffered: Najaf, Tal Afar, Samarra, al Qaim, Haditha, Ramadi, Baquba, many others. And this is not something that happened here and there. It's really ongoing operations. And usually those operations follow the same pattern where the city is sealed off, a very harsh curfew is imposed, residents are encouraged to leave resulting in massive displacement of people. After awhile they assume that those who stay inside are only 'insurgents' and they cut water, food, electricity, medical supplies and carry massive bombardments on urban households and this destructs a very large part of the city. Reports say that more than 75% of the city of Falluja lies in ruins today. And many of those occasions, the US military has taken over medical facilities such as hospitals. In those cities, very often hospitals are the tallest building in those cities. So the US takes them over and puts snipers on top and you have once again control over the city or neighborhoods.
Sounds pretty damn important to us and CounterSpin must have agreed -- at least in June -- because they broadcast it. During the interview, co-host Janine Jackson expressed shock that the report wasn't getting attention and asserted that she had only seen the report covered by AFP. So how does that segment get left out of your best-of? Was it really necessary to bore us with Lebanon Dispatches again trotting out his tale of being in Iraq in 2004?
Well, maybe in the first week of January, 2011 -- when the illegal war may still be going on -- CounterSpin can serve up some information about Iraq in 2007?
Though the gas baggery on Iowa that dominated so much of the alleged independent media last week was annoying (and shallow), we were thankful that at least it had pushed the Cult of 'Saint' Bhutto to second place on the short list of topics indymedia 'covered.'
Iraq?
They weren't interested. They still weren't interested.
Mike Huckabee, the GOP winner in Iowa -- none of the gas bags pointed this or any other realities out -- got approximately 40,00 votes. It's true. From Scott Maxwell's "Iowa caucus results: Harbinger of 'change'?" in today's Orlando Sentinel:
Did you notice that, in order to win a caucus in Iowa, a candidate like Mike Huckabee had to win about 40,000 votes? To put that in perspective, Allen Arthur got more votes than that to win his seat on Orange County's soil and water board. For that matter, so did the guy Arthur beat. There's something to be said for allowing candidates to use a knock-on-doors strategy in a smaller state. And it's true that the rest of America could learn something from Iowans in terms of the focus those folks put on their elections. But it's also true that we could probably find a state that's a bit more representative of America than this group that's 93 percent white that has chosen past victors such as Paul Tsongas. (Which also tells you not to read too much into Iowa.)
The Democrats? The Democratic Party doesn't release numbers to the media or offer transparency. Somehow in all the gas baggery provided by indymedia last week, they couldn't note that. When, like Maxwell, they noted the racial majority in the state, they did so proclaiming it was amazing that "Black" Barack Obama could win. It's news that Obama is popular with White people? We thought that was his base.
Maxwell noted the racial component to question why Iowa went first every election cycle. Independent media that supposedly probes the story that the mainstream media ignores offered hours and hours, articles and articles on Iowa but never took the time to question the kick-off Iowa is given every four years.
It's not just that they couldn't shut up about Iowa, it's that their jabbering never offered anything of real value.
On Thursday, three US service members were announced dead by the US military. By Friday, All Things Media Big and Small made it clear that they just weren't interested.
On Wednesday, The New York Times ran an article on John Edwards' pledge to end the illegal war. As C.I. noted, skip Gordo's write up and go instead to the transcript of the interview. Independent media? Uninterested. Tom Hayden and Norman Solomon covered it during the week and that was really about it.
Did independent media think Edwards plan wasn't a good one? Did they doubt his sincerity? If so, they should have covered those aspects. But they didn't and the most likely reason for the silence was that it was about Iraq and they don't give a damn about Iraq.
The Iraq War that hits the five-year-anniversary in two months gets damn little attention. When vets return, they frequently say the same thing, "It's like people don't even know there's a war going on." What people know and don't know, that does not come from first-hand observation, is dependent upon the media.
2006 was, for independent media, the year of living dumbly and 2007 was the year of living useless. With only one week down in 2008, the mind already shudders to think how low they can scrape. As they scatter to the wind in search of topics to cover, one reality remains: The Iraq War drags on.