Thursday, Sept. 18, 10:05 p.m. EST
Tom Friedman: Media Covered Up for Saddam
Veteran New York Times foreign correspondent Thomas Friedman charged that the media played up to Saddam Hussein’s brutal regime – so much so it willfully covered up the dictator's crimes against his own people.
Echoing fellow New York Times correspondent John Burns, Friedman appeared on "The Charlie Rose Show" to blast pre-war press coverage.
"The press has something to answer for," Friedman told Rose, adding, "I don’t think that the reporting from Iraq in the ten years before this war was a shining example of the best in American or world journalism."
"What the press never conveyed, partly because they wanted their visas and they wanted to get in, whether they were TV or print – everybody got caught up in this Faustian bargain of wanting to get in and get out, and [they did] not report on the atrocities in order to get access."
Moreover, in the face of a drumfire of criticism of the administration’s handling of Iraq from the media, and his own New York Times in particular, Friedman said we must stay the course in Iraq.
Returning from a recent trip to Iraq, he said he found good reasons to do so and hopeful signs for Iraq’s future.
Still, Friedman castigated the administration for failing to make adequate plans for coalition occupation in the postwar. He demanded that Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld be fired for his part in the failure.
"The good news is that we and the Iraqis – the silent majority of Iraqis – and I’m talking about 90 percent of the population, actually have an overlap of interest of a very fundamental nature. We in the United States and the vast majority of Iraqis want the same thing.
"We want Iraq to not be Saddam and not be Iran. We want it to be some decent, pluralistic alternative in between."
Noting that "we did not have an overlap with the silent majority of Vietnamese. That’s not true in Iraq. We actually want the same thing, and that’s the good news."
He said because of that, Saddam’s people had to go to "incredible lengths" – such as blowing up the U.N. headquarters.
"They’ve blown up the holiest mosque in Shiaa Islam, they’ve gone to incredible lengths to actually crack that overlap of interest," and they have failed, Friedman said.
Friedman noted that in the wake of that bombing he feared a bloodbath between the Shiites and the Sunnis, but it never happened.
He recalled that "they blew up a car bomb inside the Iraqi police academy and what happened? This week, more Iraqis volunteered to join the police force."
"We aren’t where we should be … but it’s very wrong to be overtaken by these events that are screaming at us from Iraq that we lose the trend, and the trend is still very rocky but in the net right direction."
Tom Friedman: Media Covered Up for Saddam
Veteran New York Times foreign correspondent Thomas Friedman charged that the media played up to Saddam Hussein’s brutal regime – so much so it willfully covered up the dictator's crimes against his own people.
Echoing fellow New York Times correspondent John Burns, Friedman appeared on "The Charlie Rose Show" to blast pre-war press coverage.
"The press has something to answer for," Friedman told Rose, adding, "I don’t think that the reporting from Iraq in the ten years before this war was a shining example of the best in American or world journalism."
"What the press never conveyed, partly because they wanted their visas and they wanted to get in, whether they were TV or print – everybody got caught up in this Faustian bargain of wanting to get in and get out, and [they did] not report on the atrocities in order to get access."
Moreover, in the face of a drumfire of criticism of the administration’s handling of Iraq from the media, and his own New York Times in particular, Friedman said we must stay the course in Iraq.
Returning from a recent trip to Iraq, he said he found good reasons to do so and hopeful signs for Iraq’s future.
Still, Friedman castigated the administration for failing to make adequate plans for coalition occupation in the postwar. He demanded that Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld be fired for his part in the failure.
"The good news is that we and the Iraqis – the silent majority of Iraqis – and I’m talking about 90 percent of the population, actually have an overlap of interest of a very fundamental nature. We in the United States and the vast majority of Iraqis want the same thing.
"We want Iraq to not be Saddam and not be Iran. We want it to be some decent, pluralistic alternative in between."
Noting that "we did not have an overlap with the silent majority of Vietnamese. That’s not true in Iraq. We actually want the same thing, and that’s the good news."
He said because of that, Saddam’s people had to go to "incredible lengths" – such as blowing up the U.N. headquarters.
"They’ve blown up the holiest mosque in Shiaa Islam, they’ve gone to incredible lengths to actually crack that overlap of interest," and they have failed, Friedman said.
Friedman noted that in the wake of that bombing he feared a bloodbath between the Shiites and the Sunnis, but it never happened.
He recalled that "they blew up a car bomb inside the Iraqi police academy and what happened? This week, more Iraqis volunteered to join the police force."
"We aren’t where we should be … but it’s very wrong to be overtaken by these events that are screaming at us from Iraq that we lose the trend, and the trend is still very rocky but in the net right direction."
