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This guest editorial has been written by Aarohee Sharma who is visiting United States from India.

One can say this with a lot of credibility that truth is the first casualty in any war. In this ongoing war with Iraq, I have been unhappily glued to the television to get the latest information about atrocities committed by either side, stories of human rights violation on both sides and images of manslaughter.

One thing is for sure that no side or no player is innocent in this current drama of barbarity. Both sides are indulging in a propaganda war and media is being successfully used as a tool in their hands. This is a war where it is clear that most media has taken sides and visibly so. Perhaps that was the intention of Pentagon when they allowed journalists to be ‘embedded’ with the troops and present their version of war from the firing line.

I am still confused if the coalition forces have taken Basra. While they report that Basra has fallen in the morning, in the evening same reporters report that they are facing stiff resistance. I am still wondering if Coalition forces have taken the Bagdad International Airport or if Iraq still controls the airport. While the reports say in the morning that Coalition forces are within ten miles of Bagdad and facing minor resistance, in the evening same reporters report that forces are miraculously forty miles from Bagdad. I wonder what direction the forces are going. Jessica Lynch story was a case in point where the American Media kept insisting that she was physically abused as a POW, whereas her parents said an entirely different story. That of course got no coverage in influential media circles.

The outcome of this war is certain. Everyone knows that the coalition forces will finally emerge ‘victorious’ Saddam Hussein’s regime will be dislodged but Iraqi freedom will still remain a mirage in the huge desert. The tyrant dictator will be replaced by oil hungry, selfish colonialists who will run the country with a remote control like they are controlling other oil producing nations. Iraqi people however will know no respite. Americans will indulge in another propaganda war saying how they liberated Iraqis from the clutches of the dictator and quietly hiding the story that it was Americans who armed Saddam Hussein against Iran in eighties. So called Independent Media will help American establishment in successfully hiding the truth. Among the other casualties in this war, Independent Media has also become an oxymoron.

America has set wrong precedents in this war. Indians have already been told not to follow Iraq model with Pakistan. So now the new rule is do as we say and not as we do.

Till we connect again...

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