Editorial  (10-10-2003)

The truth about Iraq 

TIME Magazine cover blared this last week, just above a picture of President Bush:  “Mission NOT accomplished”

The subhead?  “How Bush misjudged the task of rebuilding Iraq.”

Such stupidly shortsighted headlines–as misleading as they are– aren’t surprising. They typify the mainstream media’s recent press on post war Iraq.

The incessant coverage of the tiny minority of Saddam loyalists still espousing their hatred of America while attacking coalition forces-in relatively small numbers given 150,000 soldiers remain in Iraq-gives one the false impression the war in Iraq and plans for its reconstruction failed miserably.

Yet if one views events in Iraq through the perspective of a wide-angle lens, they will see a different picture entirely than the images routinely broadcast from Baghdad.

It’s a shame that major media like The New York Times and CNN with decidedly liberal biases won’t tell the story of what’s really happening in Iraq. We heard it first-hand from an extraordinary Iraqi women who visited Barber County this week.

Mayada Al-Askari’s story needs telling.

The former Iraqi journalist was falsely arrested, imprisoned and tortured in a notorious Baghdad prison in 1999 until her well connected family saved her.

Unlike one prisoner she witnessed being beat to death, Mayada lived to tell about Saddam Hussein’s rein of terror. She found a real friend and a powerful vessel for her story in talented Louisville native Jean Sasson.

Sasson’s latest book, “Mayada Daughter of Iraq” goes on sale in mid November.  Sasson and Mayada kicked off a world tour in Barbour County this week.  Mayada shared her incredible story with a small group of journalists and interested citizens in Louisville.

Her answers to reporters’ questions may surprise you.  The average Iraqi opinion of President George W. Bush?

“I think if he goes into Iraq now, he would get a lot of people kissing his hand,” Mayada said in her soft voice. “Very grateful.”

Why haven’t coalition forces found any weapons of mass destruction?  “He would take them from one place to another,” Mayada said.

She apparently was not surprised that the master of deception managed to hide or destroy his weapons of mass destruction.

Finding them isn’t easy in a country the size of California.

Mayada and Sasson even shared a first-hand account of catching a glimpse of a trailer full of missiles disguised as a poultry truck. Such events were common in Iraq even before Saddam gave weapons inspectors the boot.

And will order ever be restored, and democracy begun, in a country mired by chaos–at least as portrayed by the major media?

Actually, it already has in much of the country. Two important developments have received hardly any attention at all from the media: the restoration of electricity and the sudden proliferation of free press.

Both are essential to modern democracy, which Sasson and Mayada think will work in Iraq.

Asked to share what she hopes to see in Iraq in five years from now, Mayada did not hesitate.

“Democracy,” she said “Total democracy.  And very, very excellent ties with the U.S.A.”

In an uncanny coincidence we received Congressman Terry Everett’s weekly column the day of Mayada’s press conference.

Congressman Terry Everett, a conservative Republican who represents Barbour County in the U.S house, titled it: “What you don’t hear about Iraq.”

“In the five months since the conclusion of major hostilities in Iraq,” Everett writes, “steady progress has been made in restoring order and every day life.”

Congressman Terry Everett also wondered if reports of Iraqis’ “widespread resentment” of Americans were true. Then he personally visited Iraq.

“What I saw earlier this summer,” Everett says, “was what many of my colleagues in Congress are still discovering for themselves as they travel to Iraq: the bulk of the Iraqi people are forging ahead to improve their country.”        

Congressman Everett was surprised by what he saw in Iraq.

“When I arrived in Baghdad, I was immediately struck by the size of the city and its bustling appearance,” Everett writes.   “Iraqis were out everywhere living their lives and looking hopefully to the future. There was little evidence of war or destruction from our allied bombing campaign.”

Clearly as President Bush has warned, tough days still lie ahead in Iraq. More soldiers will make the supreme sacrifice.

And what does Mayada say to the families of those soldiers?

“Only that my heart goes out for them,” she said   “I feel for them as if they were my son. They helped liberate this country. If I see one of them I will kiss their hand”

That’s a story that needs telling.

IT’S A SHAME THE MAJOR MEDIA LIKE THE NEW YORK TIMES AND CNN WITH DECIDEDLY LIBERAL BIASES WON’T TELL THE STORY OF WHAT’S REALLY HAPPENING IN IRAQ.

The Eufaula Tribune

Email:  editor@eufaulatribune.com