News Reporting on Iraq War

Iraq is a highly contentious issue. From the beginning of the war to the recently held elections, the Iraq issue has seriously polarized people’s opinions and divided not only America but also the world. One need not look farther than newspapers to see how dividing the opinion on Iraq is. One may expect to find conservative news papers to toe the line of the current administration, and liberal or progressive news papers to find fault with the handling of Iraq. But the issue has divided people so much, that finding a middle ground or neutral opinion is close to impossible. It can be very well expected that the perspectives on Iraq are completely extreme on both sides. These strongly contrasting opinions have forced both sides to spin or manipulate the Iraq issue as much as possible so as to make the other sides’ position completely unacceptable or even treacherous.

The news papers that have been used to highlight the issue of Iraq are The Gateway, Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Nation. The Gateway is a Canadian news paper that has been chosen as an alternative news source for the current paper. The news article from Philadelphia Inquirer is a conservative outlook on the current progress in Iraq, and is strongly republican in its views. Finally, the Nation is a liberal newspaper that is staunchly opposed to the war in Iraq and is openly anti-republican in its views. All of these news papers focus exclusively on the elections that have been held in Iraq and its possible outcomes.

The Nation article was written before the Iraqi elections took place. Some of the key issues highlighted by the Nation are violence, fear, and the growing frustration, and alienation of both Iraqis and Americans the current Administration. According to Gen. George Casey, commander of coalition forces in Iraq, as reported by the Nation, the violence will surge “for some time” after elections. The Nation further added US intelligence estimates which foresees elections being followed by more violence and possible civil war. The article uses expert opinion to show how the elections will affect the future of Iraq. Its’ use of neutral and expert opinions, especially that of Commander of Coalition forces adds credibility to its reporting. The writer makes sure that elections of Iraq are not a good sign as none of its outcomes are positive. Some of the possible outcomes it highlighted were civil war, and increased violence both during and after elections.

The second issue addressed by the article was fear. According to the writer, the elections are not being held in fanfare but rather in complete fear. The writer uses excerpts from New York Times which reported that the campaign in Iraq was run in complete shadows as the candidates were “too terrified to say their names. Instead of holding rallies, they meet voters in secret, if they meet them at all. Instead of canvassing for votes, they fend off death threats.” New York Times further stated that most candidates have not made their candidacy public out of fear that they would become targets of attacks. This was also the case the polling places, which were a secret until just before the elections.

The writer uses New York Times to show how campaign in Iraq is being held, not in free spirit, but rather in shadows. Although New York Times is a liberal in its view, it is nonetheless a highly respected news organization. The writer takes advantage of the well established credentials of New York Times to further his opinion. As stated by NYT, the candidates did not reveal themselves to public until the last minute. The writer is trying to show that although elections are being held, they are not an affair like in U.S. as people would expect, but rather a campaign of secrecy in order to protect themselves. This is a significant issue the writer pointed out, as the purpose of democracy is defeated if it isn’t held openly free of fear. If the elections are held in secrecy, and the candidates aren’t even known to public, the idea that people would choose their leader and elect a government of their choice is unacceptable. The elections would be deemed illegitimate as they weren’t even open elections to begin with.

The third main issue the article deals with is growing frustration of Iraqis. The inability of the government to reign in terrorists, provide jobs, and lack of infrastructure has increasingly forced the Iraqi people to have second thoughts about the liberation of their country. The writer states that the Allawi Government was unable achieve legitimacy, woo disgruntled Sunnis and even recruit a reliable security force. According to the writer, these shortcomings of the government helped grow insurgency to about 200,000 fighters which have rendered Baghdad a hostile terrain.

The writer use of various examples of frustration definitely furthers his idea. The inability of the government to provide for its own citizens and safety definitely casts a shadow on its credibility. The writer takes advantage of their inability to show how this made the situation far worse including, growing number of insurgents, alienation of Sunnis, and an unsafe Iraq. The writer further points out that the mainstream Sunni Muslim Party pulled out of elections, which would inherently mean that any future government would have an underrepresented Sunnis thus making it an obstacle for national unity.

Finally the author suggests remedies to the current situation. The writer suggests that the best way to deal the Iraqi situation is to leave Iraq. The author justifies his reasoning by stating that the continuing US military presence can contribute to the instability of Iraq. The writer further uses emotional appeal saying that “for the sake of Iraq’s future and safety of our young men and women, the US must begin an orderly withdrawal, coordinated with stepped-up US and international economic assistance.” This is an excellent tactic, as it shows that the author isn’t just concerned about the future of Iraq but is also very much worried about young Americans who are fighting. This definitely helps the author reach a wider audience, especially families who have children in Iraq and support the war. This emotional appeal definitely helps the writer to reach an audience who normally wouldn’t accept his views.

The Philadelphia Inquirer is quite jubilant about the recent Iraqi elections. The paper uses the words “wow”, “proud”, and “success” to describe the elections. According to the Inquirer the Iraqi people braved death threats, insurgent violence to vote in millions. The writer successfully captures the views of Iraqis who are ecstatic about the elections. The writer shows this by providing details such as people staying in line to vote even as authorities responded to a suicide bombing or voting of Sunnis even in the most insurgent violence plagued cities.

The writer is quite optimistic about the future of Iraq, and adds that the success of elections improve new prospects such as drafting and approving of permanent constitution, choosing of a prime minister, and more elections. The author furthers his view of a jubilant Iraq, by showing mentioning stories and photographs of people with purple ink on their fingers and chocolates being shared with the voters.

This celebrations as put forth by the writer helps the writer form an optimistic view on the progress in Iraq. The colorful and happy examples further writer’s agenda. This is significant as any reader might view the elections as an overwhelming success where people voted in hoards and celebrated their first ever democracy.

Compared to the Nation, the author of Inquirer mentions a word of caution. The writer does mention that the “insurgency will not end because of the turnout”, and that the elections might not even ensure that the new government will have a nationwide credibility. This is quite significant as it shows that writer is also stating opinions that might contradict his views about the future of Iraq. Thus, showing a balanced opinion the author successfully increases his credibility with those who see the recent elections as a sham, enabling him to have his ideas accepted by people who might very well disagree with him.

The final news article that will be covered in this paper is the Gateway. The author of the Gateway has a different view on how the Iraq issue should be approached. The author states that the elections should have never even taken place. This is significant as both liberal and progressives believe that elections should be held, but one believes it was a success and the other would rather wait for stability. The writer points out that since Sunnis didn’t participate in the elections; it would keep them at a disadvantage thus contradicting the American purpose of Democracy through elected representation.

After over-viewing all the different aspects of the Iraq issue, it can be said that the event deeply polarized people’s opinions. It is close to impossible to find news articles that would give an unbiased view of events that are taking place in Iraq. Most, if not all articles present news stories in such a way that it would reflect their view of the issue rather than an objective reporting. All the three news articles reflect this issue.