by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
May 12, 2004
The pictures of the abuse of some of the prisoners being held at abu Ghraib in Iraq have been major news since the first pictures were released by CBS on 60 Minutes II. Most of the media reports set out the facts, describe or show pictures of what happened and then conclude with a quote or two from President Bush and others about how disgusted they are about the humiliation and abuse of the Iraqi prisoners. Very little effort has been exerted by the mainstream media to put these events into any sort of context.
Salim Mansur, a professor at the University of Western Ontario and a regular columnist for the Toronto Sun, did an excellent piece on May 6 on the context in which these events took place.
While saying that he was in no way condoning the abuse of the prisoners, Mansur reminded readers of the "tyrants and barbarity of the mobs" when americans were killed and their bodies dragged and displayed in Fallujah. He also makes the point that what went on in the american controlled prison "pales in comparison" to the atrocities, murders, rapes and torture that were carried out by the regime of Saddam Hussein. It has become typical of the media to ignore any improvements to the lives of Iraqis now that Saddam has been deposed. although the negative must be reported, the ignoring of anything positive paints a picture that the country is a lot worse off now than it was before Saddam was deposed.
Perhaps the best point Professor Mansur makes is his pointing out that what is going on now provides a valuable lesson for Iraqis and the arab-Muslim world in general. They are able to observe exactly how a free and democratic country works to resolve problems and punish misconduct. They will be able to see exactly what steps the United States takes to examine and punish not only those were direct participants in the abuse but those in the chain of command as well. and since those first leaked pictures aired on CBS, much of the information that is now being revealed is coming from government sources.
The mainstream media often misses the point that a lot of damning information on countries such as the United States and Israel comes out because those countries are democracies and the facts are exposed, if not by the government itself, then by a free and independent media.
Much of the media’s criticism, including that of the american media is merely an exercise in simply criticizing the U.S. or George W. Bush without adding any context to the events that have taken place. Salim Mansur did an excellent job of putting those events into their proper context.