SPIEGEL ONLINE's Final Biased Iraq War Gallery

You guessed it - SPIEGEL ONLINE's post marking the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq contains a fifteen-slide photo gallery with nothing but pictures of evil American invaders, death and destruction and Iraqi suffering.

It contains no photos of Iraqi voters with ink-dipped fingers. No photos reminding us of Saddam's mass murder and destruction of his enemies. No reminders of the successful surge that Bush backed despite Reid saying the war was lost. No pictures of American troops and diplomats helping millions of Iraqis building roads, schools, power plants, providing medical care, jobs and stability. No pictures of the Sunni Awakening and the defeat of Al-Qaeda in Anbar province. In short - no pictures telling the whole story or providing any real balance.

Just pictures fitting the SPIEGEL ONLINE anti-American far-left narrative: The American military is evil. The war was all bad. The Iraqis only suffered at the hands of the terrible invaders.

With the Iraq war's apparent conclusion, one can only say of SPIEGEL ONLINE that - for a publication and readership that styles itself as so utterly nuanced and intelligent - the coverage has - in fact - been utterly one-sided and hyper-simplified propaganda - with very few exceptions. The magazine's coverage was designed to sell magazines to and please an anti-American audience from beginning to end, and the German readership will never have more than a very narrow and self-satisfying view of the conflict that in no way reflects reality.

Oh - and here's a shocker - the article and gallery are not featured on SPIEGEL ONLINE's English site homepage. Wonder why? Perhaps the English-speaking audience demands at least a fig-leaf of intellectual honesty - apparently the German audience does not...

Now back to Afghanistan...is it Vietnam yet?

Comments

[Gerhardt Steinke]

At first blush, I see a massive collection of commentary objecting to German media reporting on American "leaders" such as Dick and George. What makes me reluctant to devote any more of my finite time to this area of inquiry is text such as the following: " the Bush-hater and current member of the Kerry team Joseph Wilson, with the Bush-hater and Democratic Senator Bob Graham, with the Bush-hater Greg Thielmann, with the Bush hater Karen Kwiatkowski." Discribing someone as a "hater" or a "lover" does NOT further a discussion. The level of love or hate is irrelevant to whether or not what is said is true. At no place in David blog do I see ANY specific indication that ANYTHING written by Joe Wilson et al is false. Perhaps Wilson's "hate" - better said OUTRAGE at being lied intoi a war is justified. Scanning many other sections of David's voluminous criticisms of German Media, I see a similar tactic used with abandon. Seldom are FACTS published in Der Spiegel, Der Stern and other German media disputed. FACTS DO COUNT. Some colorful facts have limited relevance. For example, ink-stained election fingers. Any student of Iraq politics would be hard-pressed at David's undocumented fantasies that suggest that Iraq's infrastructure has improved under the American occupation. Eight years after being lied into the Iraq invasion, ordinary people (those not driven from their homes or killed, that is) have trouble getting normal electricity and water. The infrastructure remains rotten. WHEW! GIVE ME A BREAK! For starters, visit Iraq Body Count to learn the basics of George Bush's criminal war.

[GringoTex]

Any student of Iraq politics would be hard-pressed at David's undocumented fantasies that suggest that Iraq's infrastructure has improved under the American occupation.

I can understand why you decried David’s lack of documentation regarding infrastructure improvements, yet did not bother with any documentation yourself: the documented record does not support your stance.

Take a look at the November 30,2011 report of the long-respected Brookings Institution Iraq Index. While Iraq still has a ways to go- “As of 2011, the available supply of electricity averaged about 56% of demand”- there has been a substantial increase in electricity generation capacity. Pre-war electricity generation averaged 95,000 megawatt hours by pre-war estimates. By July 2011, electicity generation was up to 167,800 megawatt hours, nearly double pre-war electricity generation. (page 23)

On page 25 of the most recent Iraq Index report, we find that the percentage of population with access to potable water increased from 22% in February 2008 to 70% in early 2011. Similarly, the percentage of the population with access to sewage facilities increased from 8% in February 2008 to 26% in early 2011. Again, while improvements still need to be made, substantial progress has been made.

But let’s ignore the facts, and chant your mantra:

NO INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS
NO INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS
NO INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS
NO INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS
NO INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS

Does it make you feel better?

[GringoTex]

Breaking news from La-La land: How the L.A. Arsonist Was Caught.

If the likes of Der Spiegel claim that the Hollywood Arsonist is an example of a crime-ridden and psychotic US compared to a sane and well-behaved Germany, hold your breath. The suspect is Harry Burkhart a German grifter. He apparently set off all the fires in a protest to his grifter mother being caught and jailed.

[Stephan]

Oh well, David's Medienkritik still fighting the stale old wars of nearly a decade ago.

I remember there was a time when anti american sentiment was really nasty in Germany. Now almost ten years later and after having worked all over the world and knowing hundreds of Americans Brits Chinese Canadians etc. I heard more harsh things about the Bush government and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan the torture regime than i had ever heard in Germany.

It is now clear that the unreflected Anti Anti Americanism was nothing but a cul de sac which usually paired itself with Anti German and Anti European sentiment of the highest order.

Proof is here. There seems to have been no progress on this blog. No intellectual progress that is. No reflection no nothing.

[Mike H.]

And you're singing the same old stale song of a previous decade. Pot meet kettle.

[WhatDoIKnow]

Stephan, you admit there was a "really nasty" anti-American sentiment in Germany. Saying that "others did it too" is lame. It doesn't matter who did what, what matters is what Germans did. I was living in Canada before the Iraq war started and during the first few months of the war. Their coverage was heavily one-sided. Then I moved to Germany. The coverage was far worse in Germany. It was truly vicious at times.

That stain remains in the annals of German journalism. Pretending it doesn't exist doesn't make it disappear. Maybe, hopefully in the future some courageous German journalists will dare to deal with what I consider a dark page in the history of German journalism.

I'm not sure what you mean by "unreflected Anti Anti Americanism". First there was anti-Americanism, and then there was anti-anti-Americanism. Simple. Were some driven also by anti-Europeanism? Maybe, possibly, but irrelevant. It doesn't excuse the excesses of German journalism.

Yes, there is little to no activity on DMK nowadays. I don't see how one can call that "no progress". What "progress" are you talking about? DMK doesn't have to "progress" anywhere. Where "progress" is needed is in the German media. For me one sign of "progress" would be journalists dealing with the excesses of the past. No sign of that yet.

Bush invaded Iraq, killed Saddam and pacified Iraq. (Obama might lose the peace, but that's a totally different topic). Pretty much all of Bush's anti-terror policies are still in place. People have come to terms with this (unwelcome) new reality and have adapted. The anti-American sentiment of the past hasn't achieved anything. Not one single thing! It was a shameful explosion of hate disguised as a peace movement.

DMK did a tremendous and invaluable job. There were others as well. I know that the majority of Germans never heard of them. Yet, it showed that not all Germans were blinded by the propaganda machine.

[Davids Medienkritik]

@ WhatDoIKnow: Could not have said it any better myself. Many thanks - you continue to uphold the high level of thought found throughout our comments section since we first began in 2003! As you say - the fundamental problem remains the same - and we could continue to point it out for years to come - but at some point the debate is best carried forth by others with more time on their hands! We carried the fight for four years and more - and we remain steadfastly dedicated to and grateful for all those who supported us.