In Search Of Utopia: Another Perspective on Iraq

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May 09, 2005

Another Perspective on Iraq

Home from Iraq
Journalist urges Americans to search for truth, freedom

We spent 10 months in Iraq, working on a story, understanding who the people are who are fighting, why they fight, what their fundamental beliefs are, when they started, what kinds of backgrounds they come from, what education, jobs they have. Were they former military, are they Iraqi or foreign? Are they part of al-Qaida? What we came up with is a story in itself, and one that Vanity Fair ran in July 2004 with my text and pictures. [My colleague Steve Connors] shot a documentary film that is still waiting to find a home. But the basic point for this discussion is that we both thought it was really journalistically important to understand who it was who was resisting the presence of the foreign troops. If you didn't understand that, how could you report what was clearly becoming an "ongoing conflict?" And if you were reading the news in America, or Europe, how could you understand the full context of what was unfolding if what motivates the "other side" of the conflict is not understood, or even discussed?
Just the process of working on that story has revealed many things to me about my own country.

This is an incredible bit of narrative. I found it on Rooks Rant, this morning and I could not stop reading until I had read the entire thing.

There are going to be some conservatives and war supporters who will be foaming at the mouth after reading the piece. This war, more than perhaps any in recent history, has been about "staying on message," and semantics. Calling the insurgents in Iraq, "terrorist," (which in the case of those who target civilians and cut off people's heads, I agree is an appropriate title), is an important part of justifying the war.

One of the things that has bothered me the most about this war, and the conserva-spheres coverage of it, is the willingness to demonize any journalist that dares to criticize our military actions in Iraq. This has in my opinion created an unhealthy situation for the American people(knowledge is power), and a reluctance on the part of Major Media to cover the war aggressively.

There are portions of the Editorial that I disagree with, and others that I find compelling. Go read it.

Posted by David A at May 9, 2005 10:21 AM
Filed Under | 393 Words

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Thanks for the link. I see that Movable Type tried to ping me via trackback. Unfortunately, the IP's were different between the post and the ping and it was rejected. SpamLookUp does that.

Posted by: Rook at May 9, 2005 10:27 PM

I wish you'd been able to link to her actual Vanity Fair article. This encourages learning about the motivations of our opponents, but doesn't actually tell anything about them. It just asks us to put ourselves in their shoes and tells us the U.S. makes it hard to find out about the other side.

Posted by: Noumenon at December 15, 2005 07:18 PM