Opinion> Norman Solomon> Npr And The Iraq War National Pentagon Radio

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NPR and the Iraq War: National Pentagon Radio?

A few days into the sixth year of the Iraq War, the flagship NPR News program "All Things Considered" aired a discussion between an anchor and a familiar guest.

"To talk about the state of the war and how the U.S. military changes tactics to deal with it," said longtime anchor Robert Siegel, "we turn now to retired Gen. Robert Scales, who's talked with us many times over the course of the conflict."

This is the sort of introduction that elevates a guest to truly expert status — conveying to the listeners that expertise and wisdom, not just opinions, are being sought.

Siegel asked about the progression of assaults on U.S. troops over the years: "How have the attacks and the countermeasures to them evolved?"

Naturally, Gen. Scales responded with the language of a military man. "The enemy has built ever larger explosives," he said. "They've found clever ways to hide their IEDs, their roadside bombs, and even more diabolical means for detonating these devices."

We'd expect a retired American general to speak in such categorical terms — referring to "the enemy" and declaring in a matter-of-fact tone that attacks on U.S. troops became even more "diabolical." But what about an American journalist?

Well, if the American journalist is careful to function with independence instead of deference to the Pentagon, then the journalist's assumptions will sound different than the outlooks of a high-ranking U.S. military officer.

In this case, an independent reporter might even be willing to ask a pointed question along the lines of: You just used the word "diabolical" to describe attacks on the U.S. military by Iraqis, but would that ever be an appropriate adjective to use to describe attacks on Iraqis by the U.S. military?

In sharp contrast, what happened during the "All Things Considered" discussion on March 24 was a conversation of shared sensibilities.

The retired U.S. Army general discussed the war effort in terms notably similar to the sensibilities and language of the ostensibly independent journalist — who, along the way, made the phrase "the enemy" his own and incorporated it into a follow-up question.

The general commented that "the enemy chooses densely populated regions to fire their mortars or launch their rockets. … You simply can't just load up a bunch of artillery guns and throw rounds into a crowded neighborhood, you know. So the enemy has time while the U.S. forces are clearing the area, putting together a patrol or launching helicopters to simply fade away into buildings and hide away in alleys."

Anchor Siegel responded this way: "Does it suggest that the enemy enjoys some support from those neighborhoods, or at least has intimidated people in those neighborhoods?"

The retired general must have appreciated the chance to swat the big floater of a question over the fence. "Not necessarily," Scales replied. "Remember, these are hit-and-run attacks. Oftentimes, they'll drive in from miles away and pick up surveillance, pull up into an open space, set-up their mortars, lay their mortars, indirectly fire off 15, 20 rounds, load back up, and leave, long before even the populous knows that they happen to be there."

It wouldn't be fair to judge an entire news program on the basis of one segment. But I'm a frequent listener to "All Things Considered" and the other drive-time NPR News mainstay, "Morning Edition." The conversation that I heard the other day between the anchor and the general is symptomatic of what ails NPR's war coverage — especially from Washington.

To add insult to injury, NPR calls itself public radio. It's supposed to be willing to go where commercial networks fear to tread. But overall, when it comes to politics and war, the range of perspectives on National Public Radio doesn't seem any wider than what we encounter on the avowedly commercial networks.

Norman Solomon's books include "War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death." A documentary film of the same name, based on the book, has just been released on DVD nationwide. For information about Norman Solomon, go to www.normansolomon.com, or visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.