The Media's Iraq Offensive

"The American media establishment has launched a major offensive against the option of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq," writes Norman Solomon. As an example, he cites a recent New York Times story by Michael Gordon which claims that many of "the most vehement critics of the Bush administration’s Iraq policies" believe withdrawal would be irresponsible. Solomon sees parallels between the current media discourse and its earlier treatment of the war in Vietnam, when "the American press lagged way behind grassroots antiwar sentiment in seriously contemplating a U.S. pullout. ... The standard media evasions amount to kicking the bloody can down the road. Careful statements about benchmarks and getting tough with the Baghdad government—as with the Saigon government—are markers for a national media discourse that dodges instead of enlivens debate."