Thomas Friedman:
Journalistic Role Model?

Written by Daoud Kuttab to
The New York Times,
June 5, 2007.

To the Editor:

The credibility of the once superior American press has hurt been since the war in Iraq, when American journalists started use the term “we,” in reference to the US government or army. But Thomas L. Friedman has gone even further. In his column “Iran arrests grandma,” May 31, he outlines what needs to be done about Iran way by using the term “I” as if he represents the entire U.S. foreign policy team.

In answer to his own question what to do about Iran, he suggests the military option but then states: “I don’t want to create another boiling Iraq.”

It is time that the American media, including award-winning columnists, stop dealing with sensitive foreign issues as if they were playing their own war games. The arrogance of speaking in the first person reflects a dangerous blurring between journalism and political activism. We have been trying to teach Arab journalists not to do that. Now we have to be careful that our students of journalism don't use Thomas Friedman as a role model.

—Daoud Kuttab, Director
—Institute of Modern Media
—Al Quds University
—Ramallah, Palestine

EDITOR’S NOTE:
In the above referenced column, Thomas Friedman wrote: “What to do? Obviously, one option is a military strike combined with fomenting revolution. But that could easily leave us with another unstable, failing state in the Middle East. I don’t want to create another boiling Iraq.”

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posted on a daily basis.

Sunni Opinion on
American Withdrawal.

Written by Ben Zipperer to
The New York Times,
May 9, 2007.

To the Editor:

The front-page article “A Sheik and His Uninvited ‘Guests’ Mirror Uneasy Iraq-U.S. Ties” (May 8) asserts that “most Iraqis, particularly here in the Sunni-dominated Anbar Province” view the American military as occupiers, but “most [Iraqis] here now want the Americans to stay, at least until some semblance of stability is restored.”

No sources are cited for this second claim—that most Iraqis desire the American military occupation for its security benefits—and serious polls of Iraqi opinion indicate the opposite. For instance, the University of Maryland Program on International Policy Attitudes found in September 2006 that 71% of Iraqis want the U.S. military to commit to withdrawing within a year, whereas 9% would like US forces to reduce as the security situation improves.

Among Sunnis, on whom your article focused, 91% want the US to withdraw within one year, but 2% favor the US to condition its withdrawal on security.

—Ben Zipperer
—Washington, DC

Comments will be reviewed and
posted on a daily basis.