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14. Jun 2006

Hvornår er nyheder ikke nyheder?

 
Hvis man kun fulgte med i de danske medier, skulle man ikke tro, at USA netop i disse dage er i gang med en større aktion mod byen Ramadi i Irak.

Søger man f.eks. efter ordet "Ramadi" på Politikens hjemmeside, er den seneste historie i den retning helt tilbage fra 2. maj.

Så hvor underligt var det ikke at kunne læse i det kommuniqué om irakisk modstand, jeg citerede forleden, at USA netop har igangsat en større aktion mod Ramadi.

Lyver kommuniqué'et, eller er der bare ting, vi ikke har sådan helt godt af at høre om?

Vel, Dahr Jamail har en artikel om offensiven på truthout.org, under overskriften Ramadi: Fallujah Redux:
Fearful residents are now pouring out of Ramadi after the US military has been assaulting the city for months with tactics like cutting water, electricity and medical aid, imposing curfews, and attacking by means of snipers and random air strikes. This time, Iraqis there are right to fear the worst - an all out attack on the city, similar to what was done to nearby Fallujah.

It has always been just a matter of time before the US military would finally get around to destroying Ramadi, the capital city of al-Anbar province. After all, Ramadi is not far from Fallujah, and so similar to Fallujah both tribally and in their disdain towards the idea of being occupied, that many people in Ramadi even refer to Fallujah as "Ramadi." I know many people from Ramadi who lost relatives and friends during both US assaults on Fallujah, and the level of anti-American sentiment has always been high there.

By now, we all know the scene when the US military in Iraq decides to attack an entire city ... we've seen this standard operating procedure repeated, to one degree or another, in Haditha, Al-Qa'im, Samarra, parts of Baghdad, Balad, Najaf and Fallujah twice ... so far. The city is sealed for weeks if not months, water and electricity are cut, medical aid is cut, curfews imposed, mobility impaired, air strikes utilized, then the real attack begins. Now in Ramadi, the real attack has begun.

Warplanes are streaking the sky as bombings increase, loudspeakers aimed into the city warn civilians of a "fierce impending attack," (even though it has already begun), and thousands of families remain trapped in their homes, just like in Fallujah during both attacks on that city. Again, many who remain in the city cannot afford to leave because they are so poor, or they lack transportation, or they want to guard their home because it is all they have left.
(...)
The fact that the 1,500 US troops who were recently brought into Iraq, specifically to Ramadi, went unreported by most, if not all, corporate media outlets didn't come as a surprise to the residents of Ramadi, however, as street battles between troops and resistance fighters have been raging for months now.

The media blackout on Ramadi is already rivaling the blackout on the draconian measures employed by the military during the November 2004 siege of Fallujah, if not surpassing it. Thus far, the military have remained reluctant to allow even embedded reporters to travel with them in Ramadi. With each passing US assault on an Iraqi city, the media blackout grows darker - and with Ramadi, it is the darkest yet.
Nuvel, nogle af de større nyhedsbureauer omtaler da offensiven mod Ramadi, f.eks. Reuters i denne artikel om massakren i Haditha.

Måske skyldes mørklægningen en kombination af vanskelighederne ved at operere i et land, hvor mange uafhængige journalister allerede er dræbt, og de konventionelle mediers modvilje mod at forælle ting, der ikke er sådan helt comme il faut - som for eksempel om massakren i Fallujah i november 2004, eller om de formentlig forestående massakrer på civilbefolkningen i Ramadi.

Hvor meget nemmere er det ikke at tie stille end at rapportere en alt for ubehagelig sandhed?

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