Posted 4/02/2003 10:57:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Lies in the Arab Media

Reading the Arab papers and watching some Arab TV, whether it's through the net or clips on US TV, can really irritate me. How can millions in the Arab Street watch that crap and actually believe it.

This morning I saw Iraq's Minister of Information tell the world that Iraq was winning the war, that the coalition forces had not crossed the Tigris, that thousands of enemy soldiers had been killed… He may as well call himself the Minister of Truth, it would be no less dishonest. This crap goes way beyond propaganda. It would be comedic if the subject was not so serious.

The lies are nothing new. Throughout modern history the Arabs have lied to the world and lied to themselves, especially about great battlefield victories. Whether it has been empty blustering before the fact or telling their ignorant masses about fictitious triumphs, the only result has been their ultimate humiliation in defeat. This war in Iraq is no different.

The Arab war against Israel is also no different. Bold faced lies are told about massacres, numbers of casualties, and everything else imaginable. One amazing thing they can do is to tell two different lies about the same topic depending on which language they are speaking and which audience they are targeting.

The lies are a given, yet the real crime is the way some western news agencies give the lies credence, even reporting them as fact. We all know the typical culprits, yet it continues unabated. For the life of me I cannot understand why much of the press, particularly in Europe joins the chorus. Is it gullibility and naivety? Is it ignorance? Is it pure anti-Semitism? Or are they afraid of the creeping Islamism throughout their welfare states? Whatever the reasons the results can be devastating.

This week Rachel Currie’s “martyrdom,” (see An Unsealed Room) regardless of the truth of the situation caused a change in Israeli defense policy. Will that mean other lost lives from a terrorist? I hope not but again, lies from the Arabs were devoured as truth. The alleged "martyrdom" of Mohammed al-Dura is another vicious lie.

You all remember the photos and the news coverage, the father and son caught in a cross-fire at the Netzarim Junction. As it turns out, the entire incident was most likely an amateurish production of some palestinian film director. The event was staged, like so many others, pure theater. Remember the staged funeral where the corpse was dropped and then got up and ran away? In the cross-fire drama there’s credible evidence that the boy was never even shot, let alone killed. But the damage had been done.

Investigations like those done by Gerard Huber and Stephane Juffa et al, are far and few between and are poorly publicized. Somehow they get lost on the dung heap with stories like the French Best Seller positing that there was no plane that slammed into the Pentagon. So what can we do?

We can spread the truth quietly among our friends and acquaintances, we can write letters, send faxes, e-mails to help spread the truth. But please do something!

I’m hopeful that American involvement in Iraq, and the similarity of the problems we are facing to those the Israelis have been confronting for decades, will help shine the light on Arab lies. I’m also looking for some help.

Does anyone know of any publication, document or scholarly work that has catalogued and documented Arab lies in war? All help would be appreciated.