Can the Iraq War coverage be manipulated any more than it is? More shock and awe. Or is it, hee and haw?
It's bad enough that there is a perception that the U.S. mainstream media is a partner in the Iraq War -- having allowed itself to be co-opted -- err, "embedded" -- so that they could see first hand how our invasion forces were "Democratizing" the Iraqi hordes, those uncivilized, backwards people who apparently can't do anything exccept withour American help.
Now, the media seems content to accept the administration's line that corruption in Iraq regarding major contracts is really an individual, case-by-case issue and has nothing to do with the systematic corruption encouraged by parent companies brought into the Iraq war by corrupt reasoning.
Over the past few years, the U.S. Attorneys office has indicted, charged, prosecuted and convicted a handful of managers at Halliburton and KBR involved in bribe-taking and corruption. Another case is being prosecuted this week, but you wouldn't know about it, except that "another" Iraq war corruption case is being vetted by the Government.
Thank GOD the government and President Bush are protecting our interests in Iraq. Just Thank God because, apparently, they are the only ones who care about the corruption in Iraq and they will bring the issue to the people -- managed, controlled and in enough small bursts to keep the public from ever suspecting that maybe there is some kind of plot to convict the low-level folks in order to prevent anyone from asking, why isn't there more scrutiny on Halliburton, on KBR or how about that Kuwaiti Company that has the contract to build the most expensive U.S. Embassy we've ever had in Baghdad, a company that, according to Grand Jury testimony published by the A.P. (testimony that was later sealed after the disclosure -- okay, thank GOD for the A.P.), some shenanigans were involved there but no one cares.
The cases have been sent to low-profile regional federal court rooms, prosecuted under the national media's radar screen (as if we even have one, really). The latest invovles Jeff Mazon, a guy from suburban Chicago (my neck of the woods otherwise I might not have even seen anything about these cases) tied to Halliburton and KBR. He's being tried in Rockford, Illinois and it is being covered by Iowa's Quad-Cities Times (thankfully one paper is interested).
And Ali Hijazi, a contractor who is out of reach of the U.S. because he is a citizen of Kuwait though he has lived unfairly under the shadow of a federal indictment for three years -- yes 3 years. Have you ever heard of an indictment lasting that long? In every other instance they are dropped, but not this one because if they can't charged people in court, God Forbid again that they might get loose and start yapping about the real corruption at the parent companies and at other clout-heavy contractors involved in Iraq war related contract corruption.
Wouldn't want that to happen, so keep the indictment out there forever, or at least until we get past these dog-gone, pesky national presidential elections in November so maybe President Bush's pals might be able to SURVIVE!
No anger here. Just shock and awe at the media's weak-kneed approach to all this.
Ray Hanania
www.hanania.com
Here's a link to my stories, that should be published:
www.ArabWritersGroup.com