Media Spin Can
Separate War From Death
by Norman Solomon
Dissident Voice
December 5, 2002
A dozen years
after the Gulf War, public perceptions of it are now very helpful to the White
House. That's part of a timeworn pattern. Illusions about previous wars make
the next one seem acceptable. As George Orwell observed: "Who controls the
past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past."
It's not unusual
to hear journalists and politicians say that the Gulf War had few casualties.
Considering the magnitude of media spin, that myth is hardly surprising.
"When the air war began in January 1991," recalls Patrick J. Sloyan,
who covered the Gulf War as a Newsday correspondent, "the media was fed
carefully selected footage by (Gen. Norman) Schwarzkopf in Saudi Arabia and
(Gen. Colin) Powell in Washington, DC. Most of it was downright
misleading."
In an essay
written as a fellow at the Alicia Patterson Foundation this year, Sloyan
describes "limitations imposed on reporters on the battlefield" in
1991: "Under rules developed by (Defense Secretary Dick) Cheney and
Powell, journalists were not allowed to move without military escorts. All
interviews had to be monitored by military public affairs escorts. Every line
of copy, every still photograph, every strip of film had to be approved --
censored -- before being filed. And these rules were ruthlessly enforced."
As December 2002
began, Los Angeles Times media critic David Shaw told readers: "Based on
past performance, both by the current Bush administration and by its immediate
Republican predecessors, there's every reason to think that if we go to war
against Iraq, Washington will exert more control over the media than ever
before, using every tactic from manipulation to deception to
disinformation."
For the most
part, mainstream news organizations are avid participants in such deceit. Their
objections are routinely feeble and belated.
Even when they
occur, media critiques usually steer clear of moral concern. They're much more
likely to focus on false claims about technical performances: whether
"smart bombs" were truly accurate, whether cruise missiles strayed
off course, and so forth. But the greatest deception of the Gulf War was far
more profound. "In manipulating the first and often most lasting
perception of Desert Storm," wrote Sloyan, "the Bush administration
produced not a single picture or video of anyone being killed. This sanitized,
bloodless presentation by military briefers left the world presuming Desert
Storm was a war without death."
Now, the
Pentagon is in gear for what a pull-out poster in the latest Mad Magazine calls
"Gulf Wars, Episode II." ("Production designed to distract you
from the failing economy. Produced by the military-industrial complex in
association with Exxon, Texaco, Mobil, et al.") A key reason many
Americans are inclined to go along with the next war is that Episode I seemed
like a pretty decent made-for-TV movie. Media references to "Desert Storm"
rarely dwell on -- or even mention -- the human losses during the six-week
period of the Gulf War.
But in his
excellent new book "Tinderbox," scholar Stephen Zunes points out:
"Most estimates put the Iraqi death toll in the Gulf War in the range of
100,000. Due to the increased accuracy of aerial warfare, the proportion of
Iraqi civilians killed was much less than it had been in previous air
campaigns. At the same time, because the bombing was the heaviest in world
history -- consisting of tens of thousands of sorties -- the absolute numbers
were quite high. Most estimates of the civilian death toll are approximately
15,000."
What are the
likely human consequences of the impending war on Iraq? News media should be
asking that question. But the American public remains in the dark.
"The avowed
U.S. aim of regime change means any new conflict will be much more intense and
destructive than the Gulf War, and will involve more deadly weapons developed
in the interim," said a report issued last month by health professionals
with the London-based Medact organization and International Physicians for the
Prevention of Nuclear War. They warned: "Furthermore, the mental and
physical health of ordinary Iraqis is far worse than it was in 1991, making
them much more vulnerable this time round."
The report found
that "credible estimates of the total possible deaths on all sides during
the conflict and the following three months range from 48,000 to over 260,000.
Civil war within Iraq could add another 20,000 deaths. Additional later deaths
from post-war adverse health effects could reach 200,000."
And here's another
conclusion from the report that major U.S. news outlets keep ignoring: "In
all scenarios, the majority of casualties will be civilians."
Norman Solomon's
latest book is The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media. His syndicated
column focuses on media and politics. Email: mediabeat@igc.org
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To read a transcript of Norman Solomon's recent appearance on CNN, discussing U.S. policy toward Iraq with Jonah Goldberg and Wolf Blitzer, go to: http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0212/03/sdi.04.html