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Opinion

How to read war news

"I don't read the newspapers anymore. They tell nothing but lies!" This bitter outburst came from Dr. Tetsu Nakamura, leader of the Peshawar Association, at a public lecture in Tokyo last November.

Dr. Nakamura spent 17 years in Afghanistan building medical clinics and digging wells. He knows the country, and so we can believe him that the newspapers are full of falsehoods and distortions, as they usually are when war begins.

He, however, gets information from friends and fellow workers in Afghanistan. But most of us, for better or for worse, depend on the newspapers. It is important, therefore, for us to train ourselves in the art of discerning the truth hidden in the fog of distortion.

Reading the newspaper is, indeed, an art. Like most arts, it cannot be reduced to technique. Still, I want to suggest two rules that can be helpful. They are:

1) When reading today's newspaper, don't forget what yesterday's said.

2) Look carefully through the tiny items on the back pages. They may be more important than the headline articles.

To illustrate the first rule, I will give two examples. The first (which I have mentioned in this Opinion column before) is the statement repeated in news reports that Afghanistan's Taliban "refused" to hand over Osama bin Laden to the United States. A few months ago, the papers reported the Taliban saying that it wouldn't hand over bin Laden until it was show n the evidence against him.

The second is an article in the New York Times (Dec. 22) stating that Afghanistan was experiencing "that country's first peaceful transfer of power in decades." But I suppose few readers are capable of the radical forgetting that would be required to swallow that.

To illustrate the second rule, I offer a tiny note at the bottom of page 5 of the International Herald Tribune (Jan. 15). There we learn that U.S. troops are beginning "extensive maneuvers," scheduled to continue for one year, on the southern Philippine island of Basilan, a "hotbed" of Islamic rebels. Training maneuvers in a war zone?

Similarly, on page A19 of the San Francisco Chronicle (Jan. 4) there is an article that states that, now that it has al-Qaeda "on the run from Afghanistan... the United States is stepping up military activities in and around Somalia." Take note of the word "in." And as for "around," where do you suppose that might be?

The following day, the same paper reported (on page 1) that the Israeli military captured 50 tons of weapons allegedly being "smuggled" into the Palestinian Authority. (Why "smuggled"?) The average reader will wonder, how much is 50 tons of weapons? The same paper reported (on page A13) that, two days previously, U.S. warplanes "dropped more than 100 satellite-guided 2,000-pound bombs" on a single target in Afghanistan. That's 100 tons, on one target in one day.

Don't give up reading the newspapers. The information (or much of it) is there. But you have to dig for it.

Shukan ST: Feb. 8, 2002

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Opinion How to read war news By Douglas Lummis "I don't read the newspapers anymore. They tell nothing but lies!" This bitter outburst came from Dr. Tetsu Nakamura, leader of the Peshawar Association, at a public lecture in Tokyo last November. Dr. Nakamura spent 17 years in Afghanistan building medical clinics and digging wells. He knows the country, and so we can believe him that the newspapers are full of falsehoods and distortions, as they usually are when war begins. He, however, gets information from friends and fellow workers in Afghanistan. But most of us, for better or for worse, depend on the newspapers. It is important, therefore, for us to train ourselves in the art of discerning the truth hidden in the fog of distortion. Reading the newspaper is, indeed, an art. Like most arts, it cannot be reduced to technique. Still, I want to suggest two rules that can be helpful. They are: 1) When reading today's newspaper, don't forget what yesterday's said. 2) Look carefully through the tiny items on the back pages. They may be more important than the headline articles. To illustrate the first rule, I will give two examples. The first (which I have mentioned in this Opinion column before) is the statement repeated in news reports that Afghanistan's Taliban "refused" to hand over Osama bin Laden to the United States. A few months ago, the papers reported the Taliban saying that it wouldn't hand over bin Laden until it was show n the evidence against him. The second is an article in the New York Times (Dec. 22) stating that Afghanistan was experiencing "that country's first peaceful transfer of power in decades." But I suppose few readers are capable of the radical forgetting that would be required to swallow that. To illustrate the second rule, I offer a tiny note at the bottom of page 5 of the International Herald Tribune (Jan. 15). There we learn that U.S. troops are beginning "extensive maneuvers," scheduled to continue for one year, on the southern Philippine island of Basilan, a "hotbed" of Islamic rebels. Training maneuvers in a war zone? Similarly, on page A19 of the San Francisco Chronicle (Jan. 4) there is an article that states that, now that it has al-Qaeda "on the run from Afghanistan... the United States is stepping up military activities in and around Somalia." Take note of the word "in." And as for "around," where do you suppose that might be? The following day, the same paper reported (on page 1) that the Israeli military captured 50 tons of weapons allegedly being "smuggled" into the Palestinian Authority. (Why "smuggled"?) The average reader will wonder, how much is 50 tons of weapons? The same paper reported (on page A13) that, two days previously, U.S. warplanes "dropped more than 100 satellite-guided 2,000-pound bombs" on a single target in Afghanistan. That's 100 tons, on one target in one day. Don't give up reading the newspapers. The information (or much of it) is there. But you have to dig for it. Shukan ST: Feb. 8, 2002 (C) All rights reserved