While viewers were still in the glow of the Hussein statue toppling, NBC featured an interview in which a reporter grilled a military spokesman about how Iraqis, “who’ve lived with one kind of fear — the regime of Saddam Hussein — might feel a different kind of fear now thinking that U.S. forces will now be the people they must answer to.”
Minutes later, less than an hour after the moment of triumph for the U.S. troops and Iraqi citizens, NBC gave NBC News analyst Raghida Dergham, of the Al-Hayat newspaper, a lengthy segment to spout off about misguided U.S. foreign policy and how it's alienating Middle Easterners.
At about 11:15am EDT, less than a half hour after the statue fell, MRC analyst Geoffrey Dickens observed that Kelly O’Donnell, in Doha, pressed Commander Frank Thorpe of U.S. Central Command: “Let’s talk for a moment about that brief image we saw of a U.S. flag being put around the face of the statue of Saddam Hussein. It happened once earlier in the conflict where a U.S. flag was put into the ground. Is that not a disservice to the overall image that you’re trying to put out that this is about helping the Iraqi people?”
O’Donnell thought Iraqis will “fear” the U.S.: “Is it possible that people who’ve lived with one kind of fear, the regime of Saddam Hussein, might feel a different kind of fear now thinking that U.S. forces will now be the people they must answer to. Isn’t that a risk?”
About 15 minutes later, NBC went back to the Today set in New York where NBC News analyst Raghida Dergham, of Al-Hayat, told Katie Couric: “Middle Easterners are troubled by U.S. policy”:
“Of course many Iraqis, maybe the very majority of Iraqis are very, clearly welcoming of the downfall of the tyranny of a regime that has been so ruthless for so many years. But the trouble is that many in the Arab world do not believe in the stated motives of the administration as why Iraq. Of course this administration has said this is about liberation and, and I guess, I would even venture to say I do not believe that the administration has gained the confidence of the region in the stated message it says that this is what it's all about. Many people say this is about getting Iraq. And then the question is then, what? Who is gonna be in charge of stating the future of Iraq. But for the time-being, right this moment, today, I am sure many Iraqis are also thinking of their pain. Remember many civilians died, many mothers are mourning and many parents are searching for their children. So there is mixed-feeling. There is, of course, a welcome of the downfall of a tyranny, a tyranny. But at the same time, the trouble is that there is looting, there is a disorder, there is a lot of hospitals who do not have equipment, the water, the medicine and so the priority would be to make sure there is some sort of security so that the looting does not become chaotic and that is probably the first step.”
Couric:“Well understanding the situation right now is slightly chaotic. Is it a lost cause? What can the United States do, in your view, to win back some of the confidence and support of the Arab world?”
Dergham demanded: “Many things and, and it’s not exclusive to Iraq only. Remember this is a region that is quite preoccupied with all its pain, the different parts of its pain including the Arab-Israeli conflict. You are not going to win the hearts and minds of the Arabs unless there is a fair resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. That the Palestinians are no longer exposed to the situation they are in under occupation. That’s one. And also on the immediate point that we are talking about, which is Iraq, to make sure that Iraq is not put in the hands of either generals in the Pentagon who have something particular in mind or in the hands of some Iraqis who are not rather credible in the eyes of many Iraqis.”
Couric soon kvetched about Bush's plans for a post-war Iraq:
“Do you have any confidence in the words of President Bush and Tony Blair recently that this interim authority or government would really be made up of individuals after consulting with a number of groups within the country after consulting with some Iraqi, not only members of the Iraqi opposition but exiles as well and that ultimately the main goal is to put, you know the ruling or the leadership of Iraq back into the hands of the Iraqi people?”
Dergham: “Look really this is the objective but implementing it is where the challenge comes up. If there is an occupation, a long-term occupation, if there is heavy-handedness in the way that the distribution of the wealth of Iraq, the rebuilding of Iraq, the contracts. If this is not, if it doesn’t get the necessary attention there is a fear that America will not be believed. The administration will not be believed and then the idea was to get Iraq for another reason, for other reasons other than the liberation of Iraq….”
(This update courtesy of the Media Research Center.)
