« On Refusal To Assimilate - 'Female Muslim Teacher In Netherlands Dismissed For RefusIng To Shake Hands With Men' | Main | More 'Root causes': 9/11 hijackers vow on video to avenge ... Bosnia »
September 8, 2006
Iraqi Government Closes Al Aribiya - A Symptom?
The Iraqi government has apparently made a huge mistake in closing Al Arabiya's office in Baghdad for a month - for its "sectarian reporting" and "provocatibe coverage" This, according to The Big Pharoah:
The Iraqi government has done one of the most stupid things ever. It had closed Al Arabiya's office in Baghdad for a month. I have said before that Al Arabiya is the only major Arab news network that shows the barbarity of the terrorists in Iraq and supports the country as it tried to get out of the hell it is in now. That came with a harsh price that the channel had to pay. It's office was bombed, its journalists were threatened, and its correspondent Atwar Bahjat was brutally murdered. No wonder Al Arabiya's sincere reporting of Iraq made it the number one channel from which Iraqis get their news and a refreshing alternative to Al Jazeera. In spite of all that, the Iraqi government surprises us all by doing such a stupid thing.More here.
By accusing Al Arabiya of "sectarian reporting" and "provacative coverage," it's hard to believe other than that the paper's reporting isn't "Islamic" enough to suit the Iraqi government, which apparently prefers biased reporting that fits in with the agenda of Shiia Islam. How could a reasonable person think otherwise?
Even worse, how does such an ideologically-biased government govern fairly in a society with several different faiths? As we can see so far, apparently not very well!
No wonder we're seeing a "Splintering of Iraq," best summed up by:
There have been myriad problems with our campaign in Iraq: there were likely too few troops in Iraq to achieve our goals, a lack of international support and too little planning for postwar Iraq. But I believe the most serious problem with our efforts in that troubled nation is the simple fact that we attempted to bring about democracy in a nation that is too deeply divided by ethnicity, religion and history.
Cross posted from Hyscience
Posted by Richard at September 8, 2006 1:52 PM
