Memorial for War Journalists

In a scripted event which feels like it could have come of out “Wag the Dog,” a long neglected War Correspondents Memorial has been revived to honor journalists who died while being embedded within the US military in Iraq.

The memorial propaganda event shows how far the US has gone in to incorporating Journalists in to the war machine. At the ceremony Gail Norton, US Interior Secretary said the reporters honored had “worn the same uniforms, slogged in the same boots and eaten the same bad food” as U.S. soldiers. They have also “dodged the same bullets.” While “many have lost their lives in the effort, few have been recognized or honored.”

“They put their own headline on their lives—one that speaks of sacrifice and professionalism, a love of freedom and dedication to the truth,” said Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. With this memorial War Correspondents reporting for the US corporate media are allowed to both be noble freedom loving reporters bringing the breathless reports of how our side is doing in the war. Wolfowitz went on to say ‘he was “entranced by [the] innovative coverage of combat,” which sometimes brought information to the Pentagon faster than any other source. ’ (Washington Post)

We have a situation where reporters are both praised for telling the truth, but also presented as comrades, arm in arm with the soldiers they are supposed to be covering. The whole truth part feels a little hollow when you remember that the US Military has a policy policy of reviewing for potential censorship everything those embedded reporters wrote. “In the end, journalists are there to let their readership and their television viewers know what is going on in their name,” Tom Brokaw of NBC says. Clearly the journalists are there to spin a tail of reality. By embedding them, we get a postmodern fragmented perspective on the war, less the grand narrative of Bush vs Saddam and more the thousand toiling soldiers like Jessica Lynch fighting their way through the desert for the liberation of the poor iraqis.

Perhaps the need for a war correspondents memorial became more urgent in the last few months. The roll of journalists has shifted from that of the embedded reporter writing about the glorious march on Baghdad to the day to day grind of the occupation, resistance, and guerrilla war. There has been a rash of editorials attacking journalists for not reporting the ‘bright’ side of the occupation. That electricity is now on most of the time and that the zoo has been reopened after many years. It’s the same argument that was made in Vietnam, the journalists are loosing the war by reporting the bad news and reducing support on the home front.

By creating a War Reporters Memorial out of the obscurity of history the Pentagon is trying to revive the huge popularity ratings and positive press they got during the war. They are talking about the american way and freedom of the press as being a fundamental good. A foundation of what America is about. Bringing Democracy and Liberation while fighting a perpetual war against the evil ones.

There is a little problem when this spin clashes with reality. The US first promised early elections then canceled them after it became clear Iraqis would vote for islamic parties. After the war there was a flood of newspapers and free press which exploded after Saddams’ fall. But as the US took power, setup it’s administration in Saddam’s old palaces they put in to place a set of censorship rules to control what they called incitements to violence.

It’s funny how the US never tries to shutdown FoxNews when it’s commentators call for bombings and killing or the UPI when it’s columnists call for genocide and the force conversion to Christianity of the Islamic world. I guess when it comes to war journalism, how much freedom of the press you have depends on what you’re saying.

One thing not mentioned in any of the articles about the War Correspondents Memorial is that there is a plaque which says the monument is in honor of those who “narrate distant wars and explore dark lands.” It’s very telling statement as it fits with the US narrative of military marching off to liberate obscure countries from their despotic dictators and the terrorists they supposedly harbor. Journalists play an important roll for constructing the truth necessary to win the perpetual war for peace.

For folks interested, i found this history of the war correspondents monument. Turns out it was never an official thing, but just something one cooky journalist built on his own land in the 1890’s. Despite all the time, the relationship between press and government haven’t change all that much in the last 110 years.