There are mixed messages from our media “embed’s” in Tikrit and Baghdad. ABC's Jim Sciutto highlighted a man in Tikrit who complained that he's “been a slave to Saddam for 25 years,” and celebrated how “today is my first day of freedom.” But Sciutto also found a man who insisted that “Saddam Hussein is better than George Bush.” CBS's Allen Pizzey arrived in Tikrit and saw “sullen” people threatening violence: “What had been called Saddam's last bastion is nearly deserted and unlike in other liberated towns, residents who remained here are sullen. 'This will be like occupied Palestine,' the young man warns. 'There will be bloodbaths.'”
In contrast, on the NBC Nightly News Tom Aspell traveled to Tikrit and observed that “today on the streets a few timid civilians, more curious than hostile.”
In Baghdad, ABC's Dan Harris stressed how “there are now daily protests” against the U.S. “in front of the hotel where the media and the military have set up temporary headquarters.” Harris showcased one doctor who charged: “They come for oil, not to protect us from Saddam. Saddam is their agent. It's a big game.”
But on the CBS Evening News, Dan Rather in Baghdad noted that “one of the hallmarks of Baghdad these days are the wild and woolly swings in public of mood. It can flip in a second” with the very same people praising America one day denouncing the U.S. the next.
On Monday's World News Tonight, Jim Sciutto in Tikrit found that “many residents said they were glad to see Saddam Hussein gone. 'I've been a slave to Saddam for 25 years,' said this man. 'Today is my first day of freedom.'”
Sciutto to group of men shaking their heads: “No one is sorry to see Saddam Hussein gone?” He soon found someone who was sorry: “But the sudden disappearance of Iraqi control here quickly gave way to violence and looting, which many blamed on the Americans. 'Saddam Hussein is better than George Bush,' said this man. 'Saddam would never allow any of his looting.'”
Checking in from Baghdad, Dan Harris saw a city in turmoil because of ongoing looting: “Chaos breeds resentment. Many feel the Americans should be doing more. There are now daily protests in front of the hotel where the media and the military have set up temporary headquarters.”
Looking at a hospital in Saddam City, Harris relayed a complaint: “Doctor Ahmad Nasser says the Marines have refused to protect the hospital.”
Nasser, in English, saw nefarious U.S. motives: “They come for oil, not to protect us from Saddam. Saddam is their agent. It's a big game.”
But on CBS, while Dan Rather saw in Baghdad “little of the euphoria seen last week,” he observed a very temperamental public. Standing in front of a chanting crowd, Rather asserted: “One of the hallmarks of Baghdad these days are the wild and woolly swings in public of mood. It can flip in a second. For example, many of these people have been shouting things such as 'Down, down, down with Bush, yeah Saddam Hussein.' Yesterday, some of these same people in a crowd of about this same size were shouting, in effect, 'yeah America. Help us get our city started again.' What these wild and wide swings in public opinion speak to are volatility and danger.”
(This update courtesy of the Media Research Center.)
