War Againsts Iraq The Media, Its Portrayal of the War and...

War against Iraq By Olivier Gaudreau When the US initiated the 2003 invasion of Iraq, it gave the justification that the Iraqi dictator, Saddam aided the perpetrators of the September 11 attack on United States soil. The Bush administration also accused Saddam of engineering a nuclear program and amassing destructive weapons. All the US justification and the entire war have been highly criticized on many fronts. The media has taken the lead on shaping public opinion on both sides of the war, that is, the US or rather North America and the Middle East. It is a fact that citizens get to understand an issue such as the Iraq war through the perspective of the media (Al-Rawi, 2013). This paper focuses on the media, its portrayal of the war and†¦show more content†¦It explains how he goes on kicking in doors with his platoon seeking insurgents from house to house and how he finally succumbed to enemy fire. Such coverage portrays the will of the American youth to battle evil in the form of Iraqi resistance and the lar ger Iraqi forces. The American soldiers` role is described as the killing of terrorists, insurgents or bad guys in Iraq. Middle Eastern Media’s Portrayal on the Iraq War The Middle Eastern media described the Iraqis as the victims of an unnecessary war on their people. The war is depicted as a longstanding barrage of the Arabs by the West and its allies. It explains it as a continuation of the battles in Palestinian territories. A popular Saudi newspaper for example shows two pictures of war ravaged women and children in the Iraq war and that of Palestinian war (Sachs 2003). The message painted is not that of America toppling a dictator, but the fact that the war is the usual assault on harmless Arabs by its enemies. As the conflict proceeded, the media published images from several past conflicts combined into a singular story. The Israeli flag was affixed to the American flag and the past crusader attacks in the 13th century was vividly recalled. Such attacks were compared to the Iraqi war. The media sent clear messages to the public that American soldiers were killers and called for a united resistance against them. The portrayal of the media in t his case was that of a battle ofShow MoreRelatedMedia s Portrayal Of Islamic Extremists During The Middle East1178 Words   |  5 PagesBernardino attacks. Tensions between the U.S. and Islamic extremists have not yet subsided. Americans receive information regarding Islamic extremists through the media, from which they form opinions on what the U.S.’s foreign policy with the Middle East should be, which affects military spending. To what extent has the media’s portrayal of Islamic extremists affected U.S. military spending and relations with the Middle East? 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