16 December 1998

CNN Iraq

The screen is dark, then a flag, red and black with green stars and arabic script fades into sight, thrilling music plays in the background and across the arabic characters, slides a logo "Strike Against Iraq", as the music rises in intensity.

No, you are not watching a movie trailer, this is the introduction sequence for all news regarding the U.S./U.K. "Desert Fox" operation against Iraq.

Once again CNN comes through, packaging war as mass entertainment, just like the Gulf War, people are glued to their TV screens, or nowadays, to their RealPlayer live feeds.

I was at the Library of Congress today for four hours, when I went in, the world was normal, though of course, not perfect. When I came out, I was standing in the middle of a capital city which had just embarked on a military action. Exactly what I needed to make me feel secure, to be sure.

As I walked by a local fire department, I could see the CNN coverage through the window. A call from Sabs yielded the sound of the broadcast in the background.

Now, being informed is good, a necessity in fact, but it's the manner in which this news, like so much other news in this country is delivered.

War is real. It has real consequences, yet the way it is presented on television makes it seem more like a film, something exciting to get the blood pumping, arouse patriotism etc. etc. etc.

It's quite sickening.

To boot, I'm scared. I mean, the whole reason that these attacks took place, is because Saddam Hussein is doing what? Producing chemical weapons.

Gee, let's NOT push the guy into a corner and make him want to use those things, hmm? Of course, the really stupid part was that apparently, the U.S. put those things in his hands in the first place. The whole situation just plain galls me.

It's enough to make me tear my hair out and build a rocketship to the stars.