Two stories in the world media today bear watching, primarily because the more important one will overshadow the other and give some clues about why the reality of this war and public perceptions worldwide may vastly differ on any given day.
The first story is a tale of hope and progress – the tale of Iraqis electing their own government. It’s the story of a nation where despite continued violence voters are participating in choosing their government at numbers that are much higher than back home in the United States. This story is hugely important because Iraq is one of the few places in the Middle East where the population of a nation gets to choose its leaders. It’s a new experience for people who have been ruled without representation for thousands of years. Iraq will very shortly have a four-year government in place that was chosen by purple fingered families. The era of tyrants is fading here.
The second story is also important but it’s two years old and will be played out of proportion by the media. Several British troops appear to have abused several Iraqi teenagers in 2004 in Southern Iraq during a period of unrest accompanied by stone throwing and general riots. This story will get much more airplay than the election story because there is sensational video to go with it. When you see the video replayed incessantly over the next two weeks, keep in mind several things – the behavior displayed by troops in the video is horrible, unacceptable and under investigation. It will be punished, as it should be. Showing the video endlessly is done for one purporse – to draw a bigger audience for the newscast. Showing the video over and over and over again does nothing to help the Iraqis being beaten, and it hurts the troops who are here now, two years later trying to keep Iraq secure so that Iraqis can build a place worth living in.
You’ll hear strong condemnations from every side on the beatings. That is as it should be. Every soldier here is an ambassador, whether they know it or not. The rule of law will be applied to those soldiers involved in the story. In Western nations, we are held to high standards because we are civilized and the vast majority of us believe human life has great value.
When you watch the video keep in mind that what you are seeing is atypical. No one is going to constantly replay the good work being done here, because most of it is boring and routine. But the good work being done in Iraq far outweighs the negative incidents. And that is easy to lose track of when you’re constantly bombarded with negative images or while you’re watching young men in uniform beating teenagers who are pleading for mercy. Those young men were certainly not sanctioned and they will be found out and disciplined.
Today, the compound where I live was mortared. If someone had videotaped my entire day, the only exciting part of it would have been the explosions and the running scenes as I made my way to a bunker half-dressed. Those exciting scenes were certainly not the most important part of my day. The boring little things I did, like typing up this blog entry were more important than a few idiots randomly trying to stop progress in Iraq by lobbing mortars at us. The news of the freely elected government of Iraq is far less exciting than video of beatings taking place but it is also far more important.