War and the Media - the First Gulf War - Essay Example

? War and the Media (focusing on the First Gulf War) Here Here Here Here The first Gulf war is known asthe Iran-Iraq war, there are many other names that are used for this war. This war is one of the longest war in the history of the world as it started from September 1980 and ended in August of the 1988. It was a conventional war that was fought and the horrors that it carried were numerous as it was a conventional war. It is also very famously known as the Persian Gulf War by the westerners. In the war the attackers were the Iraqi people, who did it under the command of Saddam Hussein. It is believed that although the main cause of the war was a very ancient conflict of Persians and Arabs. At that time and moment there was a great social and revolutionary change that was occurring in Iran. There was a whole lot of establishment of religious leadership. The reforms that were occurring in Iran were of quite a serious nature. The reforms were both social and political. Saddam Hussein judged the fact that this conflict would put Iran in a weaker position and hence make it easier for the Iraqi soldiers to get hold of the situation and thus invade Iran. The master mind behind this war was Saddam Hussein who believed, that if they attacked the Iranian at this point and time of conflict and turmoil, they will not be able to counter attack and hence face quite a lot of issues with their own security. He considered as the best time for the Iraqis to take over and establish their own supremacy over the whole area. They believed this as the most opportune moment. There was also a fear of loss of power that had driven Saddam Hussein to consider the attacks. He believed that the Shiite uprising in Iran can ultimately affect the people living in Iraq too. Iraq has a dominant Shiite population and hence he feared that the Shiite Iraqis might feel motivated and rise against the Sunni establishment. It was this fear and the will to become the leader in the region that Saddam Hussein leapt into war. The reason that Saddam Hussein also felt fearless and jumped into war was that they had the support of Americans as well. Iran was undergoing a complete religious transformation and they had always considered Americans as the great Satan. They had declared openly their anti US feelings. This was what fueled the US and they sided with Iraq in this war to terrorize Iran and take control of it. Also, after the First World War , there was a demarcation that was made between the countries. The continued border disputes within both the countries also fueled the incident. If we consider the role of media, media has always been in the hands of those who are in power. In this case it was America who was quite at much stake. They had freshly lost a battle in Vietnam, which despite being a prolonged war turned out to be a gift of deaths alone for the Americans. It was highly important for them that they get a good name and reputation for themselves. Therefore, in this case they favored the Iraqi. The Iranians were very openly against the Americans and therefore, to be able to have their own say and hold in the Middle East and the Arabian Gulf they sided with Iraqis. Iraqis had the worst fear in the form of their own Shiite population who might rise up against them as they attacked the Iranians, whose majority population was Shiite. This was what made the war more of name saving game for the Americans. They very publicly showed their support for the Iraqis and provided them with help and guidance so as to be able to overcome Iran. The first two years of the war proved to be difficult for Iran as they had a very weak army , and which had been further weakened by the constant uprising that was occurring in their state. They could do little to protect themselves, with the continuous infiltrations of the Mullahs in the army. Once they had been able to regain a bit of their control over the army their attack had turn to offensive instead of a defensive one. America just to prove that they were with the right side in their soul and spirit gave huge loans to the then president Saddam Hussein and also provide military help along with strategies so as to replenish and revitalize the Iraqi army so as to help them get the upper hand over the Iranian forces. It was also seen that United States of America set a trade embargo upon Iran so as to cripple it economically as well. They had imagined that this would encourage Iran to withdraw from the war and seek ceasefire or even give up and concede with the demands of Iraq. There was one great factor that the Iraqi soldiers as well as the Americans had misjudged, and this was very constantly and repeatedly reported by the media. Media claimed that the Americans and the Iraqis together had designed the strategy in a way expecting the Iranian Sunni tribes to actually side with the Iraqis and help them enter Iran, this way they will be able to get hold of the Iranian territories they have been fighting for. The Sunni tribes fought the Iraqi soldiers and defended their own territories (Bostom, Andrew. 2005). It was widely reported that the third year into the war the table turned on the Iraqi soldiers completely, Iranians were fueled by their senior soldiers with battle tales of the past and encouraged and willed to move forward. This was then given a whole religious color by the western media, who claimed that it was a religious war that was being fought by the Iranians, and the Iraqis were on the right path. Though the war ended with no territorial gain for any country, but both the countries suffered huge losses and they had to suffer a very serious damaging economic situations for both the sides. It is said that most of the oil infrastructure setup for the Iraq was destroyed, which was their main source of income. They tried to cover their damage through the attack they later did on Kuwait. Iraq had wanted to invade Kuwait for the sole reason of gaining wealth their money had run down and there were many other processes that had been interrupted during the war. The worst hit aspect because of the war was the economy of Iraq. To bring them to a better position, Saddam Hussein wanted control of the oil wells and therefore tried to overpower the Kuwaitis. They had earlier believed that they would still have the support of the United States of America. The United States of America very silently judged the situation for some time and when they anticipated the fact that the Arab world was very much against the Iraqis as they feared their own safety, they very cleverly turned their neutral stance to anti Iraqi and started to gather forces and supplies to get rid of Iraq from Kuwait. This made Saddam Hussein their enemies and their enmity continued to grow with time. Since then media has also always highlighted Iraqis as brutal soldiers and the whole negative propaganda about Iraq started and continues to this day. The media had only been kind to the Iraqi soldiers when they were fighting the Iranians who were a greater enemy of the United States of America. The people were cajoled and sublimated to think as the leaders wanted them to think through constant depiction of gory scenes from the war (Baker, Addison, DeFrank. 1995). One very interesting aspect in the whole first Arab war was that the media was on the side of the Iraqi soldiers, their atrocities and the torture that they had carried out was downplayed by the media and they were being portrayed as soldiers who were being brutally killed by the Iranians. Iranians were being portrayed as the tormentors, while the actual situation was a bit different. It was Iraqi soldiers who had waged the war against the Iranians when they were going through their own internal strife. Similarly when later Iraq waged war against Kuwait, the situation was of similar kind, the idea behind it was also to establish the Iraqi supremacy, but the United States of America were not happy with it. They worked and fought against Iraq to help Kuwait and this type the media painted a whole new picture of Iraq. In the war with Kuwait, the United States of America sided with the other allies and fought to throw Iraq out of the Kuwait. It was after this that Saddam became the deadliest thorn on the side of United States of America (Bostom, Andrew. 2005). The sole reason of the change of face that had occurred with the United States of America had been to gain benefits for themselves. The main reason that they had supported the Iraqis in the first gulf war was to gain hold in the Arabic region. The other Arab countries, majority of whom were Sunnis, also secretly felt that this would put an end to the Shiites menace, therefore they also provided with loans. The media is usually on the side of the victor therefore, today there is very little details remaining about the incident worldwide and as well as locally. Though the research material is also available in Iran, but then again it can also be trusted that data and the information might be manipulated so as to show Iran in a more humane position. There is always a serious dearth of reviewable material related to wars as the cruel forces try preventing their barbaric nature to be known to the world and therefore they try to get rid of it all. This is what that has happened for the Iran-Iraq war. Iran despite being defensive at the start and becoming offensive only in the end was portrayed as a major serious risk taking country and the ones who were least bothered by the atrocities they were committing. Parties from the equal side had been hurt and mutilated. But the Iraqis were portrayed as innocent soldiers who were made to jump into war without any second thoughts for their country. This is classic example that can be used to portray the fact that those who have power in hand are actually the ones who right down history and also make the media think from their own perspectives (Baker, Addison, DeFrank. 1995). Works Cited Baker, James Addison, and Thomas M. DeFrank. 1995.The politics of diplomacy: revolution, war, and peace, 1989-1992. New York: Putnam. Bostom, Andrew G. 2005. The legacy of Jihad: Islamic holy war and the fate of non-Muslims. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. Read More