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Times Watch for December 19, 2003

Was Hussein's Capture a Good Thing? Chris Hedges

     Chris Hedges is on leave from the New York Times to write a book, but his anti-war rants keep on coming. Hedges first gained notoriety with his anti-war address at a commencement ceremony at Rockford College in Illinois, which resulted in his mike being unplugged and him being booed off the stage. Upon the capture of Saddam Hussein, Hedges has reappeared for an interview for the left-wing website TomPaine.com.

     The first question from senior editor Steven Rosenfeld regarding Saddam's capture delivers the far-left flavor of TomPaine.com (part of the Bill Moyers' family empire, run by son John). Note Rosenfeld's first impulse is to fret over excessively "nationalistic" press coverage: "I'd like to talk about the portrayal of Saddam Hussein's capture and display. What's your reaction to the media coverage? Is it fair? Is it sensational? Is it nationalistic?"

     Hedges takes the bait, calling the killers of U.S. troops part of the Iraqi "resistance." The oh-so-sophisticated Hedges sniffs: "Well, the word that I would use is simplistic. In the sense that they, by playing up the capture, give the illusion that somehow--if not all--certainly a large part of our problems have been solved by taking in Saddam Hussein. I don't think the resistance movement in Iraq has very much to do with Saddam Hussein at all. And I think it obscures the fundamental issue, which is that Iraqis are chafing against U.S. occupation."

     Rosenfeld later asks: "You have written that war stories or war coverage invoke cultural archetypes and perpetuate national myths. What kind of clichés do you think the capture of Saddam is eliciting?"

     Hedges: "All of the clichés. We refer to him as a rodent, as a rat. We talk about him hiding in a hole in the ground, as if he's a creature. I have no love for Saddam Hussein. I stood over the mass graves of the people he executed. On the other hand, in wartime, that is how you speak about the opponent. You speak about them as animalistic, as barbaric, as less than human. We're certainly doing that now."

     A murderous tyrant is captured, leading the people he repressed for a quarter-century to celebrate. Meanwhile, two writers fret over the harm done by animal cliches used to describe him. One is a left-wing activist, the other a foreign affairs reporter for the country's most influential newspaper. The most depressing thing is, Times Watch can't tell the difference.

• Chris Hedges | Saddam Hussein | Iraq War | Bill Moyers | TomPaine.com

E-mail TimesWatch Director, Clay Waters, with TimesWatch feedback at cwaters@mediaresearch.org