Arab Analysts: Media Made -- and Killed -- Zarqawi
New America Media, Q&A, Jamal Dajani, with Brian Shott, Posted: Jun 08, 2006
Editor's Note: Jamal Dajani, director of Middle Eastern programming at Link TV, looks at Arab media's breaking news coverage of the lethal airstrike on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq. He was interviewed by Brian Shott, an editor at New America Media.
Q: You've had a busy day monitoring Arab and Western media. Any significant differences in coverage of this story so far?
A: Early on, Arab media showed the gruesome pictures. On CNN they showed Zarqawi in death as if he were asleep. They didn't show him all bloodied; Arab television did.
Q: Do Arab commentators think Zarqawi's death will weaken the insurgency?
A: Well, for example, you have (Dubai-based) Al-Arabiya Television, which is closely allied with the Saudi government. They always give a more favorable view of the war, and they are saying this is a major blow -- a major blow to Al Qaeda, to the terrorists, and a major signal to civilians that they can cooperate with the Iraqi government. This is what Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told the Iraqi public, saying, "Don't be afraid; with your help we were able to nail him. And if you give us more information, we'll end the terrorism."
Other networks, such as (Qatar-based) Al Jazeera, have pointed to the similarities between this and the capture of Saddam Hussein. Yes, in the short term you may have some disarray among Al Qaeda. But at the end of the day, it's not going to end the resistance.
Q: Has Zarqawi's death at least left the foreign fighters in Iraq leaderless?
A: Well, Al Qaeda has already announced on their Web site that they have appointed a successor, Abu al-Masri.
Q: What's been the most memorable Arab take on this situation so far, in your mind?
A: I saw one very good discussion on Zarqawi on Al Jazeera. One analyst said that Zarqawi was created by the media and now he's been killed by the media. Meaning, what made him were those early beheading stories. He became this famous, or infamous, persona. And it got to him, he kind of liked that image, and in his last video he's walking around like Rambo with a gun. Because he came back into the arena, there may have been more of a push to capture him -- and there may have been more clues for those looking to kill him, because of the video.
Q: What about reports that he was betrayed?
A: If you listen to Iraqi Prime Minister Malaki, he essentially thanked the public. If the government was able to work with some of the Sunni tribal leaders to give up Zarqawi, that's a shift in tactics and a major achievement. Zarqawi's base is not really Al Qaeda and the foreign fighters, it's really the Sunnis. He managed to hide between them, between those tribal areas. One analysis I've seen is that it's not a coincidence he got betrayed -- people got tired of his indiscriminate killing.
And another analysis, this one from an Egyptian analyst more to the left, is that now the strongest spy agency in Iraq is coming from Iran, and this might be an Iranian gift to the United States. After all, Zarqawi had killed indiscriminately, but he's really been hitting Shiites hard. And of course Iran has strong ties with Iraqi's Shiite population.
Q: Are Arab commentators surprised that Zarqawi was killed?
The opposite. It was a major surprise that he managed to stay alive for three years. Because he was not a popular guy. He never made a clear mission statement about attacking, say, only American convoys. He attacked everyone. Police, the students, foreigners, locals, everyone.
Q: So what took coalition forces and the Iraqi government so long to find him?
A: The argument here is about the complexity of Iraq. That you cannot just come in with 150,000 troops and you're going to control the area. At the end of the day, you need an Iraqi, someone who knows the terrain, the language. The Americans can maybe go and surround a town and destroy it, but they don't have the informers, the knowledge from within. And so Arab media is asking what's next after Zarqawi -- he's only one of thousands in the formula of Iraq.
Q: What other questions are Arab media raising about the killing?
A: There is some talk about the timing. Is this a gift from God to the Americans to bury the Haditha massacre? How will Haditha play out a few weeks down the line? Will it come back, or will the Americans get a kind of "get out of jail free" card? There's some speculation that after Haditha, Americans put their minds together and said, "We've got to do something quick."
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User Comments
Curt Parrott on Jul 24, 2006 at 18:40:42 said:
Obviously the U.S. has played a huge role in how the Middle East has developed over the last 60 years. The U.S., through our economic resources and military might, has developed and defended the oil production and distribution that has allowed the region and us the ability to acquire great wealth. But it also requires political stability if we are going to rely on them to provide for our energy needs. This is why so many weak arab states rely on the U.S. for support and protection.
Unfortunatly, this support also created a stagnant political enviroment. Yeah, it all sounded good. Peace, political stability and economic prosperity for every one involved. A good business deal for both sides, right?
No, it simply entrenched and enriched those in power. Some were benovolent dictators, some were bastards. But all had to be protected to make it work. But what didn't work was any kind of political or economic progress that benefited the many fractured segments of their society. Fertile ground for religious and ideological elements to forment discent and terrorism. And they know the only way they can win is to drive the U.S. to pull our support for Arab regimes ( funny thing about the Middle East, every time you make a friend, you make an enemy ).
So, now that we know that regional politics create the atmosphere for terrorism, do we pull back and let regional power brokers, terrorists and militant militias fight it out while weak and unarmed fledgling democractic movements are snuffed out? Or do we fight back and try to take a few bastards out of the equation so those fledgling democratic movements have an oppertunity spread and give the region its' only oppertunity to achive the peace and prosperity that everyone deserves. I don't like this fight any more than anybody else. But I won't be one of those people who think we need to get out and let them work it out. We've seen who works things out over there. That's why we are in this predicament. We need to be there to make sure everybody there has a say in how things work out.
nova haikal on Jun 08, 2006 at 17:21:15 said:
Why do the news in Indonesia are always in favour of Islam.For example. I read about William Sampson in Reader's Digest not local newspaper .
nadine forman on Jun 08, 2006 at 15:32:00 said:
Excellent analysis. Zarqawi's death is not going to solve the problem of the Iraqi quagmire. I say let's take this as a small victory and get the hell out of there.
Clayton Hallmark on Jun 08, 2006 at 14:56:28 said:
Bush's administrating obviously is manipulating the news from Iraq, manipulating events to do that. How convenient that Zarqawi was killed as the Haditha massacre of civilians gained notoriety. Saddam also was captured at a convenient time, almost as a public relations ploy in support of this unjust, incredibly dirty war.
-->One wonders what US atrocity, error, or poll numbers would cause Bush's administration to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. Perhaps his death is being held as an ace in the hole.
Iraqis and antiwar forces should keep the Haditha massacre in the headlines until high-ranking US military officers are prosecuted for it.
Iraqis should use Zarqawi's killing as proof that US forces can quit occupying Iraq and terrorizing its citizens, that they can leave Iraq and leave no base behind. With Zarqawi gone, the world might see that there are worse terrorists in Iraq, foreign terrorists who kill by the tens of thousands.
Iran should use any respite from US attack to put in place military defenses and oil policies to deter any such attack. In other words, accelerate policies such as the oil bourse and policies to sell oil in euros. These measures can help keep the U.S. Marines out.