Monday 28 March 2005

"The U.S. government continues to claim that there is good news in Iraq. The Iraqis, they say, are self-governing, with their own improved security forces and things are getting better.

Why are not the journalists of America and the world prowling the streets of Fallujah and Tikrit and Basra and showing the commerce and the oil production and the lives of ordinary Iraqis?

If Iraq is back to normal, or getting better and safer, why cannot we see it on our television screens? Why are the journalists still holed up in hotels and the bureaucrats and even Iraqi government officials still holed up in the Green Zone?

When will Fallujah be rebuilt and become an open city? When will Baghdad have 24 hours of electricity per day? When will foreign military forces leave and allow Iraqis to completely control Iraq?

When will George Bush enter a public square in Iraq and speak with ordinary citizens? When will Dick Cheney visit Iraq and meet with Iraqi officials openly and celebrate Iraqi democracy?

When will the trials of Saddam Hussein and his regime begin? Why have they not already occurred? What is the Iraqi government waiting for, and why is justice not being served for the Iraqi people, one way or another?

It almost seems like the American media has withdrawn from Iraq, instead of the U.S. military. The American public has lost its interest in the goings on in the country, and the American public assumes that no news is good news.

No news is good news, and out of sight means out of mind. The American people are forgetting about the situation in Iraq for those we sought to "liberate". Do the Iraqi people feel fully liberated? Do they feel half-liberated? Do they feel safe and secure now?

How will we ever know if the reporters are holed up in luxury hotels watching news instead of reporting it?