At
War
Alternate news sources on war in Iraq
By DENNIS CODAY
As the war rages in Iraq, if you grow weary of reports from the
mainstream press and journalists “embedded” with U.S. troops, use the
power of the Internet to expand your reach and scope in following developments.
As an aid for readers, NCR has prepared a list of Web sites
offering alternative views from those U.S.-based news organizations will be
providing. We will add to the list as we can. If you have a Web site to
recommend, send the URL to Dennis Coday, dcoday@natcath.org
For news and analysis
Electronic
Iraq
electroniciraq.net/news/index.shtml
Electronic Iraq is a news portal on the U.S.-Iraq crisis published
by veteran antiwar campaigners Voices in the Wilderness and respected Middle
East supplementary news publishers, the Electronic Intifada. It was launched
Feb. 8, 2003.
Noteworthy features on the site include the Iraq Diaries, which
includes entries from three young women from the Al-Adamia Secondary School for
Girls in Baghdad, as well as entries from American activitists, such as Kathy
Kelly of Voices in the Wilderness, and Franciscan Fr. Jerry Zawada, who are in
Baghdad.
The Guardian Unlimited
www.guardian.co.uk
This is the online edition of The Guardian newspaper, out
of London, which has offered news and views critical of the U.S.
administration. It is generally a good source of alternative news.
It has a special section, “Special Update: Iraq”, which
contains the paper’s more recent reports and analysis of Iraq. Highlights
in the special section include: U.S. firms set for postwar contracts;
“Iraqi” refugees to face language checks; and an audio report called:
“A palpable sense of fear in Baghdad.”
The Web site also offers extensive background reports on topics
such as: the anti-war movement, oil and petrol, Saudi Arabia, the Kurds and
depleted uranium.
Dar al Hayat
english.daralhayat.com
Dar al Hayat is a London-based newspaper and Web site owned by
Saudi Arabia that offers a comprehensive package of professional media reports
from the Middle East written by journalists indigenous to the region.
ArabicNews.com
www.arabicnews.com
ArabicNews.com offers a daily roundup of news from the
Middle East and North Africa. The vast majority of articles seem to originate
from the country being reported on.
In the left column under the headline Country News, clicking on
“Iraq” leads to a dozen or so stories about the political and
economic status of the country as well as updates on relations between Iraq and
other Middle Eastern, Arabic-speaking countries.
Most articles are written in Arabic and are translated into
English, so spellings can be quirky. For example, an article about the Vatican
spelled “Joaquín Navarro-Valls” name “Jawakin Vals.”
Also be forewarned -- this site has enough pop-up windows to drive even the
most intrepid news-seeker to distraction.
Al Bawaba
www.albawaba.com
Al Bawaba bills itself as “The Middle East Gateway.” The
Web site carries a lot of links to a lot of information about the region. It
also hosts a few chat rooms and online forums (all in English).
Clicking on the Iraq tab at the top of the home page takes you to
some news headlines (nothing unique when I last visited), but scroll down to
the bottom of that page to find links to some unique Web sites, such as
www.Iraq4u.com, which includes Arabic music downloads, recipes and an
online poll, and www.iraq.net, which has a streaming radio in
Arabic.
The Web site describes itself as “an individual organization
that is working on a totally independent basis and is having absolutely no
connections with the current Iraqi regime. It is important to understand as
well that iraq.net is a place for all Iraqis to publish and speak freely
about any issue related to Iraq.”
A note on the site apologizes for a recent disruption in service,
which it attributed to “a sophisticated Distributed Denial Of Service
Attack” that it was investigating.
For background and insights
UNICEF’s Iraq Press
Room
www.unicef.org/media/iraqpressroom.htm
This page provides the latest updates and background information
on UNICEF’s program efforts in Iraq. The child-focused organization has
been in Iraq since 1952. The site offers good, independent data; the latest
addition is a comprehensive situation analysis. There are also donor updates,
press releases and other reports, including the 1999 maternal mortality
report.
Here are the headline and first paragraph of a news release I
found most disturbing:
“UNICEF racing to bolster 400,000 malnourished children
in Iraq
“Tuesday, 11 March 2003 -- With the threat of war looming
over Iraq, UNICEF is providing special therapeutic food for over 400,000
malnourished children across the country in an urgent effort to bolster their
chances of survival in the event of a conflict. Working closely with the
Ministry of Health, UNICEF has trucked more than 1,000 metric tonnes of
high-protein biscuits into Iraq in recent days. The biscuits, which the
government is now delivering to health centers across the country, are part of
an ongoing UNICEF campaign to reach Iraqi children with life-protecting
nutrients and vaccines ahead of a possible conflict.”
The Faces of “Collateral
Damage”
friendsjournal.org/contents/2003/04april/feature.html
This is the featured article by Charlie Clements from the April
2003 issue of Friends Journal, an independent magazine serving the
Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). An excerpt follows:
“I am a public health physician. In January I participated in
a 10-day emergency mission to Iraq, sponsored by the Brooklyn-based Center for
Economic and Social Rights. Our task was to assess the potential consequences
to Iraqi civilians of a war on Iraq. As a graduate of the U.S. Air Force
Academy and a Vietnam veteran, I have some understanding of the potential
consequences of the air war we are about to unleash on Iraq as a prelude to an
invasion by U.S. troops. The Pentagon will refer to the innocent victims of
this assault as “collateral damage,” but I’ve seen their faces,
and I think they should have another name. One that occurs to me is
“children,” since half the population of Iraq is under 18 years
old.”
Dennis Coday is an NCR staff writer and editorial
coordinator for the NCR Web site.
National Catholic Reporter, March 28,
2003
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