Commentary Update for April 1, 2003: April 3rd Forum, Tax Fairness Failure, America Misinformed, Fog/Jargon/Bungled Stories, Chickenhawk Talk, Brock Op-Eds, Open Letter from Jason Moon, Support the Troops, Popularity of US is Gone
This week's Commentary focuses on the war in Iraq. Our guest is Dr. Andrew Schroeder, UW Oshkosh assistant professor of media studies who has been outspoken on the war. Dr. Schroeder sees the Iraq war as connected to military globalization, an argument he laid out in a speech last October. In part of the interview, Andrew discusses the "Euro" angle to the war. That is, some people feel that a second Iraq war was guaranteed the moment Iraq switched from the dollar to the Euro currency in 2000 for oil transactions. A lengthy exposition of this thesis can be found in EV World.
April 3rd Forum: The UW Oshkosh Department of Communication and the Office of the Provost are sponsoring a forum on the war. The event will be held on Thursday, April 3rd at 7 p.m. in the Experimental Theater (West Wing of the Arts and Communication Building). Provost Keith Miller will introduce the event and I will serve as moderator. There will be very brief introductory statements by Andrew Schroeder, Lt. Colonel Tony Blando from the Military Science Department, Tom Bickford from Political Science, and Kam Wong from Public Affairs. Then we will open it up to the audience. Those in attendance can question the speakers, make statements, or whatever. If you are in the Oshkosh area, please consider attending this event.
*Tax Fairness Failure: Like many Americans, I am completely consumed by the war right now. However, in this month's Media Rants column for the Valley Scene I take on Wisconsin's Unfair Tax Structure. Here it is.
*America Misinformed: It's no secret that the majority of Americans are misinformed about a variety of subjects. But the extent of misinformation that exists as regards Iraq is extraordinary. Ari Berman in Editor and Publisher summarized the findings of some reputable polls. Here's an excerpt:
In a Jan. 7 Knight Ridder/Princeton Research poll, 44% of respondents said they thought "most" or "some" of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers were Iraqi citizens. Only 17% of those polled offered the correct answer: none. This was remarkable in light of the fact that, in the weeks after 9/11, few Americans identified Iraqis among the culprits. So the level of awareness on this issue actually plunged as time passed. Is it possible the media failed to give this appropriate attention?
In the same sample, 41% said that Iraq already possessed nuclear weapons, which not even the Bush administration claimed. Despite being far off base in crucial areas, 66% of respondents claimed to have a "good understanding" of the arguments for and against going to war with Iraq.
Then, a Pew Research Center/Council on Foreign Relations survey released Feb. 20 found that nearly two-thirds of those polled believed that U.N. weapons inspectors had "found proof that Iraq is trying to hide weapons of mass destruction." Neither Hans Blix nor Mohammed ElBaradei ever said they found proof of this.
The same survey found that 57% of those polled believed Saddam Hussein helped terrorists involved with the 9/11 attacks, a claim the Bush team had abandoned. A March 7-9 New York Times/CBS News Poll showed that 45% of interviewees agreed that "Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks," and a March 14-15 CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll found this apparently mistaken notion holding firm at 51%.
The significance of this is suggested by the finding, in the same survey, that 32% of those supporting an attack cited Saddam's alleged involvement in supporting terrorists as the "main reason" for endorsing invasion. Another 43% said it was "one reason."
Knowing this was a crucial element of his support -- even though he could
not prove the 9/11 connection -- the president nevertheless tried to bolster
the link. Bush mentioned 9/11 eight times during his March 6 prime-time news
conference, linking it with Saddam Hussein "often in the same breath,"
Linda Feldmann of The Christian Science Monitor observed last week. "Bush
never pinned the blame for the [9/11] attacks directly on the Iraqi president,"
Feldmann wrote. "Still, the overall effect was to reinforce an impression
that persists among much of the American public."
Fog, Jargon, Bungled Stories: The UK Guardian is doing a fairly good job of trying to monitor the accuracy of the claims being made by war officials. Check out their War Watch section. They have another decent section on jargon. Editor and Publisher meanwhile has a useful piece on 15 stories that the media have already bungled.
Chickenhawk Talk: Some of the chickenhawks in and outside of the administration are now trying to deny they ever said that Iraqi Freedom would be a "cakewalk." However, Salon recently compiled some of their prior statements which have clear cakewalk tones. Many of the chickenhawks were behind the "regime change" policy. This article from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace includes a history of some of the key historical documents demonstrating the way the regime change policy evolved over time. Key paragraph: "We have assembled on our web site links to the key documents produced since 1992 by this group, usually known as neo-conservatives, and analysis of their efforts. They offer a textbook case of how a small, organized group can determine policy in a large nation, even when the majority of officials and experts originally scorned their views."
Brock Op-Eds: One of my most influential teachers is Dr. Bernie Brock of Wayne State University in Detroit. Bernie thought I was a conservative when I studied at Wayne from 1984-1987. Now I suspect he thinks I make HIM look conservative. Here are two short Brock pieces, one on "The Use and Abuses of Terrorism," the other on "George Bush's Splendid Little War."
*Open Letter from Jason Moon: Oshkosh Folk Singer/Soldier Jason Moon has finally been shipped out to the war zone. Before leaving, he sent an Open Letter to Oshkosh.
*Support the Troops: Lots of disagreement exists about how to "support the troops" This site provides links to a variety of groups supporting the troops in a variety of different ways.
*Popularity of US is Gone: From the Pew Research Center March 18 2003
According to research completed by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, the positive view of the United States by people in foreign countries has plummeted over the past six months. About half as many people worldwide have a favorable opinion of the US today as compared with three years ago.
Of the eight countries in the survey, only Poland and England showed support of the US in numbers greater than 35%. Conversely, in a 1999-2000 survey, only two countries showed support of the US in numbers smaller than 60%.
In Germany, US support has fallen from 78% to 25%. In Spain, from 50% to 14%. In Italy, from 76% to 34%.
As far as support for the war in Iraq, the United States was the only country surveyed that showed a majority of support for it. Just over half of Americans (59%) support the effort.
All the best,
Tony