Journalist details abuses found in Iraq
Jamail talks at BCC about failures in a war everyone loves to hate
Alex Cruse
Issue date: 11/26/08 Last update: 12/3/08 at 9:44 PM PST
Section: News
On Nov. 14, independent journalist Dahr Jamail spoke to students at BCC about his experiences as a non-embedded reporter in Iraq. Jamail, a former Denali mountain guide who wrote for an Alaskan newspaper, shifted in the direction of the political chaos of Iraq in 2003.
Jamai was disturbed by the way American corporate media--specifically citing Judith Miller's now-infamous New York Times reports--engineered opinion on the Iraq War and the "presence" of WMDs.
Shortly thereafter, he fashioned his own press badge and embarked on a career that would help expose the privatization of American military operations, the dehumanization of Iraqis, and the crisis veterans face upon returning to the United States.
"I was watching the media sell the war, quite effectively, to the American public. I did this…for my own mental health," Jamail said.
Between years 2003 and 2005, he spent eight months in Iraq and transmitted the stories via his website, "Mideast Dispatches."
These articles are rife with documented transgressions against the Iraqi population at the hands of corporations like the Halliburton subsidiary KBR and Bechtel--a company which oversees construction and engineering in Iraq.
While Vice President Dick Cheney's earlier role as CEO of Halliburton is well-known, other company board members also have ties to the Bush administration.
Bechtel left Iraq without properly reconstructing or rehabilitating the country's water or electrical infrastructure, leaving Iraqis with dysentery, cholera, and kidney diseases
Now, according to Jamail, 70 percent of a country that is positioned between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers--a country that has 924 kilometers of inland water for its 438,320 square kilometers--suffers from grievous western ineptitude.
Jamail also commented on the perceived "success" of "The Surge," a January 2007 strategy that increased the number of American troops deployed to Iraq by about 20,000. Despite Iraqi morgues being filled to capacity in 2005--two of them, in Baghdad, on a daily basis--and 500-1,000 Iraqis were killed in each month that followed. One out of four Iraqis in Baghdad is displaced; eight million more are in need of emergency aid.
Jamai was disturbed by the way American corporate media--specifically citing Judith Miller's now-infamous New York Times reports--engineered opinion on the Iraq War and the "presence" of WMDs.
Shortly thereafter, he fashioned his own press badge and embarked on a career that would help expose the privatization of American military operations, the dehumanization of Iraqis, and the crisis veterans face upon returning to the United States.
"I was watching the media sell the war, quite effectively, to the American public. I did this…for my own mental health," Jamail said.
Between years 2003 and 2005, he spent eight months in Iraq and transmitted the stories via his website, "Mideast Dispatches."
These articles are rife with documented transgressions against the Iraqi population at the hands of corporations like the Halliburton subsidiary KBR and Bechtel--a company which oversees construction and engineering in Iraq.
While Vice President Dick Cheney's earlier role as CEO of Halliburton is well-known, other company board members also have ties to the Bush administration.
Bechtel left Iraq without properly reconstructing or rehabilitating the country's water or electrical infrastructure, leaving Iraqis with dysentery, cholera, and kidney diseases
Now, according to Jamail, 70 percent of a country that is positioned between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers--a country that has 924 kilometers of inland water for its 438,320 square kilometers--suffers from grievous western ineptitude.
Jamail also commented on the perceived "success" of "The Surge," a January 2007 strategy that increased the number of American troops deployed to Iraq by about 20,000. Despite Iraqi morgues being filled to capacity in 2005--two of them, in Baghdad, on a daily basis--and 500-1,000 Iraqis were killed in each month that followed. One out of four Iraqis in Baghdad is displaced; eight million more are in need of emergency aid.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
sms
posted 12/04/08 @ 8:26 AM PST
It is clear the perspective from which you write is limited. This is understandable as most journalists are not on the ground in places like these for long (I note 8 months). (Continued…)
john maine
posted 12/05/08 @ 8:08 AM PST
This of biased reporting is nothing but a load of twaddle. That there were WMD is indisputable. What did Saddam use at Halabja (sorry if the spelling is wrong) on the Kurds? Sorbet ? Instead of always blaming the West for all their ills, why don't these people blame those amongst them whose bloodlust and inate hatred in the real reason why Iraq today, after the huge sacrifices our nations have made, is not as prosperous as the UAE for example. (Continued…)
Post a Comment