As Others See U.S. -- The "War on Terror"

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0908-31.htm

Published on Friday, September 8, 2006 by CommonDreams.org
As Others See U.S. -- The "War on Terror"
by Norman Solomon


The USA's mass media constantly tell us how Americans see the "war on terror." But the same outlets rarely tell us much about how the rest of the world sees it.

Five years after 9/11, the gap between perceptions is enormous. Countless polls confirm the overall chasm. Yet, day to day, the media messages that surround us in the United States simply recycle American views for American viewers, listeners and readers.

But there are exceptions. A recent one aired on "PRI's The World," a co-production of Public Radio International, WGBH in Boston and the BBC World Service. "We decided to check in with people in different parts of the globe to get their perspectives on the White House's war on terror," the anchor said on the Sept. 5 broadcast.

And for the next six minutes, the American audience got an earful -- from four speakers who were not just expressing their own views. Crucially, they were summing up the dominant outlooks in huge regions of the planet.

The most sympathetic view of the U.S. "war on terrorism" came from a senior manager with Ernst & Young Security and Integrity Services, based in the Netherlands. He said: "The Europeans are still somewhat confused about what the focus of the war is. They see a lack of clarity from the United States as to what the goals of this conflict are, as to what the strategy is, as to what the standards are that the U.S. applies, and as to what the controls are that the U.S. has placed on itself in waging this war."

By U.S. media standards, that's about the extent of mainstream critiques of the "war on terror." But outside the United States, that's about the mildest criticism you're likely to find.

FULL article at link above.

[Tyo]

1. To get the whole picture you need to leave the counry

I was in Tokyo about this time two years ago and was amazed by some of the footage from Iraq that they were showing on the news. Bad bloody stuff that put the reality of war right in your face. There was really no editiorial comment in connection with this, it was pretty much just straightforward "this is what's happening" reporting. The kind of thing that I guess we had here at one time.