In November of 1967, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 242, which called for the “withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict.” The “recent conflict” was a six-day war between Israel and its Arab neighbors, and the UN resolution asserted that Israel - in exchange for a recognized right to security and sovereignty - should give back the occupied land. This week, the world’s media covered the departure of Jewish settlers, sometimes forcibly, from the Gaza strip, as Israel withdrew from the territory. Brooke talks with J.J. Goldberg, editor of The Forward, about coverage in the Israeli and Jewish press.
If the Israeli press focused mostly on the plight of the evicted settlers and the future of their State, it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that the Arab press had cast its attention elsewhere. Bob speaks with Michael Young of the Beirut-based Daily Star about the Arab press’ reaction to the Israeli pullout from Gaza.
U.S. military officials recently found themselves in the awkward position of having to explain why two news releases, about two separate insurgent attacks in Iraq, included virtually the same quotation from an unidentified Iraqi. An Army spokesman called it an "administrative error," but we weren't so sure. And so we phoned Mr. "Unidentified Iraqi" to get the real story.
The true story of any conflict, from Gettysburg to Fallujah, is mostly lost forever, left behind on the battlefield. What remains is the stuff of history books - the letters and recollections of survivors. It is this material that seven Army historians are racing to preserve in Iraq. Judging the value of their work will fall to future academics, when their records are declassified. But until then, we have the accounts of participants in the project, like Lt. Col. John Boyd. Boyd talks with Brooke from Baghdad.
When it comes to war, our perceptions often hinge on how conflicts are portrayed on television. But until now, no TV series has ever explicitly portrayed a U.S. military conflict occurring at that time. Next week, the FX network will premier Over There, a new series about soldiers in the current Iraq war. Bob speaks with Time Magazine's James Poniewozik about this television first.
Suicide bombings have become an almost daily feature of the war in Iraq. But with the so-called "insurgency" composed of such disparate elements, and nobody officially speaking for any of them, it's always hard to know who did what for what reason. Now, that could be changing - two insurgent groups have announced the appointment of a spokesman. Brooke talks to Financial Times reporter Steve Negus about the possible implications.
A few weeks ago, Time Magazine ran a cover story entitled "Inside the Mind of an Iraqi Suicide Bomber." It features a rare interview with a young insurgent-in-training. Baghdad correspondent Aparisim Ghosh wrote the story, and joins Bob to reflect on the experience of sitting down to chat with a ticking time bomb.
The recent election of hard-line conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iran's new president left observers in the Western media scratching their heads. For weeks, their coverage had focused on reformist candidates Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mustafa Moin, who many expected would be the first- and second-place finishers. Brooke speaks with blogger Nema Milaninia about why the English language media - and their counterparts in Tehran - were caught off guard.
