More on the war:
- Read the Bible . George Bush, we are told, is a deeply religious person, and so is his yeoman, Tony Blair. It is a pity that they do not read the Bible more.
One of the most beautiful Hebrew sentences can be found in I Kings XX. When he threatenedIsrael, the King of Syria boasted of his mighty army and demanded surrender. King Ahab repliedwith four immortal Hebrew words, rendered thus in English: “Let not him that girdeth on (hisharness) boast himself as he that putteth it off.”
- Retroactive Terrorists . Schoolbooks in dozens of languages must now be rewritten.
The old books said that the men and women of the French resistance in World War II were heroes.These civilians went out in the night to bomb German trains, kill German soldiers and executecollaborators. The instructions came from London. They knew that if they were caught, theywould undergo gruesome tortures and be put to death. American and British movies sang theirpraise.
The Russian partisans, whose slogan was “Death to the Invader!” made the life of the Germansoldiers hell. The partisans were hanged in droves. The original guerillas – for whom thisSpanish word meaning “little war” was coined – attacked Napoleon’s soldiers. Goyaimmortalized them in his magnificent painting. A whole generation of Israeli children wastaught to admire the Irgun and Stern Group fighters, all civilians, of course, who blew up the installations of the British army and killed its soldiers. It appears now that they were all vile terrorists.
- Presstitution. In the Middle Ages, armies were accompanied by large numbers of prostitutes. In the Iraq war, the American and British armies are accompanied by large numbers of journalists. I coined the Hebrew equivalent of “presstitution” when I was the editor of an Israeli news magazine, to denote the journalists who turn the media into whores. Physicians are bound by the Hippocratic oath to save life as far as possible. Journalists are bound by professional honor to tell the truth, as they see it.
Never before have so many journalists betrayed their duty as in this war. Their original sinwas their agreement to be “embedded” in army units. This American term sounds like being put tobed, and that is what it amounts to in practice.
A journalist who lies down in the bed of an army unit becomes a voluntary slave. He is attached tothe commander’s staff, led to the places the commander is interested in, sees what thecommander wants him or her to see, is turned away from the places the commanders does not wanthim to see, hears what the my wants him to hear and does not hear what the army does not want him tohear. He is worse than an official army spokesman, because he pretends to be an independentreporter.
The problem is not that he only sees a small piece of the grand mosaic of the war, but that hetransmits a mendacious view of that piece.
In the Falklands and the first Gulf wars, journalists were simply not allowed to reach thecampaign area. It seems that a bright fellow at the Pentagon had an idea: “Why keep them out?Let’s allow them in, they’ll be told what to write and broadcast and eat out of our hands likepuppies.”
- Shame . Since the age of 19, I have been a journalist. I was always proud of it. On innumerable forms I wrote “Profession: Journalist.”
I am ashamed when I see a large group of journalists from all over the world sitting in front of amany-starred general, listening eagerly to what is called a “briefing” and not posing thesimplest relevant question. And when a courageous reporter does stand up and ask a realquestion, no one protests when the general responds with banal propaganda slogans instead ofgiving a real answer.
Remember the virtual surrender of the Iraqi 51 st division? The “uprising” of the people ofBasra that never was? The thousand and one other lies, that have gone with the wind? Where werethe journalists when all this happened?
Almost all the journalistic reports of this war are a crooked mirror. We see in it amanipulated, distorted and mendacious picture. Therefore, praise be to the few who, likePeter Arnett, are ready to sacrifice their career on the altar of truth.
- The bottom of the barrel . I am ashamed of being a journalist. I am doubly ashamed of being an Israeli journalist.
In this war, all sections of the Israeli media have sunk to a new low. No criticism at all getspublished. The opponents of the war have effectively been silenced. Even in the Americanmedia, some voices of dissent are being heard. In Israel, this is not possible. It would beworse than treason.
The only exception I know of is the TV reporter San Semama, who stole into Iraq, was caught by theAmericans, imprisoned in a jeep and starved for 48 hours. He saw what was really happening.Parts of his reports were published here and there, and then the curtain of silence came down.All the rest – journalists, pundits, the bunch of ex-officers and so on – appear on our screens,hour after hour, and repeat like parrots the American propaganda-line, even when it ismanifestly ridiculous.
- Toy soldiers . I am especially allergic to “military correspondents”. They are indeed a unique human species, the ultimate he-men, the ultimate soldiers. They are also ridiculous frauds.
I saw them first in our 1948 war, when I was a combat soldier. When we were lying in the mud andcrawling among the thorns, from time to time we saw such a “soldier”, clean shaven, in a freshuniform, wearing a helmet and radiating all the martial virtues. These were the militarycorrespondents, attached to brigade headquarters, associating with senior officers, farfrom the front line.
(I really shouldn’t complain. When I published my combat-diary after the war it became arun-away bestseller overnight – simply because not one of these toy soldiers was able to writean authentic book about the war.)
- The theater of operations . I read somewhere that the briefing room of General Tommy Franks was created by a professional designer for a quarter of a million dollars. The American armydoes invest a lot of money in designing this theater.
I assume that much bigger sums are paid to the professional designers who shape the publicappearances of President Bush. One should pay attention to the scenery – much moreinteresting than George W.’s words.
For some months now, Bush is almost always seen against a background of soldiers. The stagedesigner sees to it that the soldiers are all around the President, so that from any photo anglethe admiring faces shine behind him.
A few days ago, the designers achieved a special effect: behind the President there stood awhite Coast Guard ship, with red-uniformed sailor tastefully dispersed on it in photogenicgroups. Other sailors were in front and on either side of the President. No scene from operacould have been better arranged. I would not have been surprised if the President had startedto render an aria. But he only uttered his usual inanities.
- The Great Patriotic War . When the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union, Stalin understood that the Russian people would not lay down their lives for Marxism-Leninism. Overnight he changed his message. Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Field Marshal Suvorov and Prince Kutuzov were resurrected in order to win the masses for what was officially named the Great Patriotic War.
Saddam Hussein does it now. He calls upon his people to stand up and kill the invaders – not in thename of the Ba’ath party (whose founders were Christians) but in the name of Allah and theMuslim homeland.