The Media's Bloody Footprints

Mike Whitney

We don’t know why the media giants have veered from their traditional cheerleading and focused on the atrocities at Haditha. There have been scores of similar incidents over the last 3 years; what makes Haditha so special? It’s impossible to exterminate 100,000 civilians without producing a lengthy list of war crimes. Haditha just fits into the familiar pattern of serial killing that is casually dismissed as "pacification". The lack of coverage ensures that things will probably stay the same. It’s doubtful that the media executives are suddenly bothered by "pangs of remorse" about the suffering they have created. More likely, the unexpected attention to Haditha indicates the growing divisions among American elites about Bush’s mismanagement of the war. In fact, the media still supports the occupation; it’s obvious by the cheery nationalism that accompanies their news programming. Haditha is characterized as an anomaly that diverges from the norm of military conduct. But, that is not what the Iraqis say...

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