As Iraqi insurgents have mounted bloody suicide attacks on civilians in recent weeks, the Iraqi press has become preoccupied with the specter of "sectarian conflict" -- and the difference between U.S. and Iraqi news coverage has become clearer.
Iraqi news organizations show less interest than their Western counterparts in individual suicide bombings, U.S. casualties, and Bush administration policy. The U.S. military presence is often criticized in the Baghdad press, but polemics about Washington's war on terrorism do not seem central to Iraqi political discussion. (A State Department survey of global media reaction to allegations of Koran abuse at Guantanamo Bay found not a single commentary on the subject from Iraq.)
It is hardly surprising that foreign journalists in Iraq, many of whom are based in the Green Zone in the heart of Baghdad and have a more difficult time operating safely in dangerous areas of the country, would see events differently than Iraqi journalists who were born, live and work there.
For them, the big story in Iraq the past week has been negotiations between the Shiite-dominated government and Sunni organizations to head off a religious war, according to the Iraqi Press Monitor, a British-based service that translates excerpts from Baghdad's leading papers every day.
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| An artist, symbolizing the "Arab Media," is painting an insurgent with a bloody sword. On his canvas, he has painted the word "Resistance," referring to positive Arab media portrayals of the Iraqi "resistance" fighters who behead their victims.( |
A much-publicized dispute between the Badr organization, a leading Shiite militia, and the Association of Muslim Scholars, a leading Sunni group, has been resolved, according to Al Mutamar, a newspaper founded by one-time American ally Ahmed Chalabi. The same day a prominent Sunni leader told Baghdad, a daily newspaper published by the Iraqi National Accord, that the dispute had been exaggerated by the media and urged his co-religionists to "avoid sectarian conflict."
Another source for Iraqi news in English is the Foreign Broadcast Information Service, an office of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, whose translations are available for a fee from World News Connection.
The Shiite daily Al-Adala carried a page-one editorial last week praising the imams who in their Friday sermons "urge Iraqis to avoid sectarian strife," according to FBIS. The editorial called on Iraqis to adopt a "code of honor" and activate "national dialogue" in order to establish a "social contract."
"Their killers are neither Sunni nor Shia," said Al-Sabah, an independently owned daily.
"They hate Iraq and oppose its struggle for a free and fair life under the umbrella of a democratic, constitutional and stable state. Iraq consists of different spectrums: Sunni, Shia, Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, Christians and Muslims. We were shy to ask people whether they were Shia or Sunni, because we consider all Iraqis as being part of one nation regardless of their ethnic background. . . . This third party seems unwilling to have Iraq united and stable. They tried bombing, explosions, and assassinations and are now trying a sectarian war. They will be disappointed because Iraqis know that strength lies in unity."
Fear of sectarian differences is one reason why Iraq's relations with neighboring Iran receive close coverage.
Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari will visit the Islamic republic later this month, the Baghdad daily Addustour reported Tuesday. The announcement follows the Iranian foreign minister's visit to Iraq last month. The Iranian visitor, noted the Chinese news agency Xinhua, received something no U.S. official in Iraq has ever been granted: a personal meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.
After the meeting, Sunni leaders accused Iran of meddling in Iraq's affairs, according to columnist Mustafa Amara of Azzaman.
