A-Infos (en) A Report From the Grim Reaper

["Shawn Ewald" <shawn@wilshire.net>]

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     A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
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AN UPBEAT MEMO FROM THE GRIM REAPER

By Norman Solomon

     A Report From the Grim Reaper:

     Glory days are here again!

     Not that I'm complaining about the last few years. Some great
events have made headlines. But, as the grim reaper, I'm not easily
satisfied. And right now, I can hardly contain my excitement.

     With prospects growing for high-tech weaponry to shatter a
lot of bodies soon, I deeply appreciate the enthusiasm for such
marvels in the American news media. The mood is auspicious for us to
get comfortably numb, so that Iraqi people blown up by U.S. bombs
won't seem like real people. Hooray!

     To make matters better, reporters and pundits often act as
though the bombs are aimed at just one person -- Saddam Hussein.
When NBC's "Meet the Press" aired on Feb. 8, host Tim Russert
was in step with questions like "What would an air attack on
Saddam really accomplish?" and "Should the United States attack
him with a massive attack from the air?"

     It helps that the U.S. government has attached natural-
sounding names to deadly assaults. Our media have obliged by
referring to the 1991 Gulf War as "Desert Storm" -- likening the
carnage to a force of nature.

     And it's good that very little footage of the human suffering
made it onto American TV screens. Sure, I'd personally enjoy watching
the gore on television, but that might set off protests from the
bleeding hearts.

     I've been gratified to see the top names of journalism so fully
on my team. For instance, when the war ended seven years ago, CBS
anchor Dan Rather concluded an interview with a U.S. general by
shaking his hand and exclaiming, "Congratulations on a job wonderfully
done!"

     The human destruction was a media footnote. So, after the
war ended, U.S. News & World Report buried the death toll as a
one-paragraph item: "Although top U.S. commanders last week
estimated that Iraq suffered at least 100,000 military deaths during
the war, other sources in the Gulf say the final total -- including
civilian fatalities -- will be at least twice that. These sources say
the allied aerial attacks inflicted far more casualties than
previously thought."

     Since then, sanctions against Iraq have taken several hundred
thousand more lives. According to recent estimates from UNICEF, 4,500
Iraqi kids under 5 years old are dying every month, mostly due to the
continuing sanctions. Somebody else's problem!

     Happily, the news media haven't stopped applauding the use of the
latest technology to kill Iraqis. President Clinton probably remembers
the accolades he won in the early summer of 1993. Time magazine
praised his announcement of a U.S. missile attack on Baghdad as "one
of his finest moments."

     Of course, there are always some moaners and whiners, like
the White House panel that just warned against bombardment of
Iraqi chemical sites. Releases of poison gas, even in small amounts,
could have severe health consequences -- and the victims could include
American soldiers as well as Iraqis. Hey, the more the merrier!

     One of my favorite pastimes is observing the tortuous efforts to
find legal justification for attacking Iraq. Although the U.N.
Security Council now refuses to give approval, there are always
reporters available to say that old Security Council resolutions gave
a blank check for the United States to attack on its own say-so. When
there's a will, there's a way.

     I have fretted that some journalists might take it upon
themselves to spread the vile contagion of conscience. But not to
worry! The specter of computer-guided missiles raining on Iraqi people
seems to mesmerize America's media professionals. With few exceptions,
they're too dazzled to make trouble.

     This kind of glorified warfare against the defenseless provides a
lot of secondary gains for me. It sets a fine example for callousness
and tacit cruelty in all walks of life. If people are accustomed to
hardening their hearts to random Iraqis -- a child in bed, say, or a
family at the dinner table -- then extreme insensitivity can calcify
and extend to others, seen and unseen, abroad and at home.

     So, as the grim reaper, I'm very happy. After all, I hate life.
Nothing gives me more joy than to see it extinguished. And, now more
than ever, I love the American news media.

_________________________________________

Norman Solomon is a syndicated columnist.

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From:             "Los Angeles Alternative Media Network"
<laamn@labridge.com> Subject:          A Memo From the Grim Reaper

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