by Tariq Ali

CounterPunch

08/12/04

The 'handover,' designed largely to convince US citizens that they could now relax and re-elect Bush, was also an invitation to the western media to downgrade coverage of Iraq, which it dutifully did. As Paul Krugman noted in the New York Times last week: 'Iraq stories moved to the inside pages of newspapers, and largely off TV screens. Many people got the impression that things had improved. Even journalists were taken in: newspaper stories asserted that the rate of US losses there fell after the hand-off. (Actual figures: 42 American soldiers died in June, and 54 in July).' Like previous confections to justify the war, this one is not working either...

http://www.counterpunch.org/tariq08122004.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp