Following on from David’s post Defeated in Iraq…
Whatever your own view of the Iraq War, the BBC constantly campaigned against it. The BBC also loves Obama. So how to report the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq?
Clare Spencer, the left-winger who writes most of the Daily View pieces for the BBC website’s See Also column, is back from her holiday today. Her first post is Daily View: US troops leaving Iraq.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/seealso/2010/08/daily_view_us_troops_leaving_i.html
If you were a biased right-wing reporter, who would most want to ignore on this issue? Robert Fisk of the Independent probably. If you were a biased left-wing reporter, who would you go to first? Robert Fisk of the Independent probably. Clare Spencer goes first to Robert Fisk, quoting some of his usual anti-Western, anti-(this-)war bile.
After Fisk comes Steve Benen, a JournOLista at the Washington Monthly (Clare is fond of quoting JournOListas), who ‘balances’ Fisk by taking “some satisfaction” in this milestone being achieved. Bad war yes, but well done Obama!
After the left-wing Fisk and the left-wing Benen comes left-wing blogger Juan Cole of Informed Comment who synthesizes the two views to get the perfect BBC opinion:
What Obama has done is stay true to US commitment to get combat units out by September 1. That should reassure Iraqis – and Arabs and Muslims in general – about US intentions. It is a symbol of a turnaround in US policy, a repudiation of the Bush administration doctrine of preemptive war.
Fourth comes Roula Khalaf of the Financial Times who “argues…that the Iraqis have little to celebrate about the US withdrawal”. (This could be read as a criticism of Obama’s move, but isn’t.)
An article in Foreign Policy by John Negroponte, ex-ambassador to Iraq, is quoted next. His quote offers advice for the future, so it doesn’t really counteract the one-sided appraisal of the war of the article so far.
Clare then quotes the Daily Mail. That’s odd. But when you read the quote you find that the Mail article attacks Bush and Blair and calls the war “shameful, without any winners” – which is exactly what beeboids wants to hear!
The one bit (out of seven) that genuinely does provide balance comes from the Daily Mirror, where “the director of the Iraqi Association, a charity for Iraqi refugees in Britain Jabbar Hasan“ argues “that the Iraq war was worth it”.
However, it’s back to the far-Left anti-war campaigner Rose Gentle (who lost her son in the war and then joined Galloway’s Respect Party) to finish the article in the same Fiskian spirit as it began:
Life in Iraq hasn’t got any better. It’s got worse. Nothing has been achieved there which is very disappointing. There is still no stability despite thousands of innocent Iraqis being killed during the war.”
Just thinking the name Robert Fisk makes me shudder. He writes with a consistent bias which does not belong within the confines of honest journalism.
Yes, the Narrative that was set in stone years ago has now reached fruition. The Iraq thing was a disaster, everything is terrible, The Obamessiah has ended Bush’s Folly, as He promised us. Don’t mention anything about what Sadaam got up to, or the consequences of leaving him in power to leave the land to his lunatic offspring. Shhhhh.
A Kuwaiti view of Saddam
“Needless to say there are some wise people in Iraq but at the same time we also see obstinacy and the ignorance on the part of some people whose mentality is like that of Saddam Hussein who had a downfall along with his prejudicial regime, given the fact this happened by virtue of support given to the Iraqi people by the international community to liberate them from the sufferings during the reign of the Saddam Hussein.
“In other words the freedom brought to the Iraqi people can be attributed to the attitude adopted by the international community in 2003 to liberate Iraq from the deposed dictator. “In this context, we suggest the political situation which Baghdad is currently basking in would not have been realized were it not for assistance given to Baghdad by its neighbors.
In the same aticle, the editor of Al Watan, reveals a very interesting take on Obama. I take his words, addressed to an educated Muslim Arab readership very seriously, indeed, giving the BBC mocking the status of Obama’s background and denying an ‘Islamic’ identity.
“We heard and saw the US President Barack Obama from a podium in Egypt addressing the Islamic world in what is seen as unprecedented historic event. His speech was full of indications, indexes and political messages to various sections of the people across the continents. This was the feature of Obama’s map for the Middle East and the Islamic world,” columnist Nasser Al-Mutairi wrote for Annahar daily. “However, the place chosen by Obama to address the world is an obvious message about the vital role played by Egypt in the region. “The US president pronounced his full name Barack Hussein Obama during the speech to ascertain his approach to the Muslim world by going to his father’s and grandfather’s Islamic roots. “President Obama also touched on various issues in the Middle East in addition to the situation in Afghanistan, the cause of Palestine and ‘nuclear’ Iran, extremism and terror.”
Heard Fisk on the last word this evening – a truly frightening man
If I recall correctly, this guy managed to live in Beirut unscathed at the height of hostage taking. I’m sure there’s a resonable explanation.
Fisk is one of the vilest of left-wing journalists. The man is seriously, seriously mentally ill.
Is this your debut post on B-BBC Craig? If so, I hope we’ve got a lot Morecambe-ing.
😀
Nice one Hippie !
Yes, I will have to be polishing up on my Kirsty Wark puns to match that!!
Craig
That is an excellent dissection of the BBC article. Fisking, I think they call it !
Craig,
Your post just reminds me just how much I miss your website !!!!