Norman Solomon

Journalists often refer to the Bush administration’s foreign policy as "unilateral" and "preemptive." Liberal pundits like to complain that a "go-it-alone" approach has isolated the United States from former allies. But the standard American media lexicon has steered clear of a word that would be an apt description of the Bush world view. Paranoid. Early … Continue reading “Little Reporting on Paranoia in High Places”

President Bush just told reporters that he has no intention of setting any timetable for withdrawal. “Our troops will come home when Iraq is capable of defending herself,” he said. Powerful pundits keep telling us that a swift pullout of U.S. troops would be irresponsible. And plenty of people have bought into that idea – … Continue reading “America’s Ready for Withdrawal – but Are Progressives?”

Sadly, it has come to this. Two years after the invasion of Iraq, the online powerhouse MoveOn.org – which built most of its member base with a strong antiwar message – is not pushing for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. With a network of more than 3 million "online activists," the MoveOn leadership has … Continue reading “MoveOn.org Makes Peace With War”

Curiosity may occasionally kill a cat. But lack of curiosity is apt to terminate journalism with extreme prejudice. “We will not set an artificial timetable for leaving Iraq, because that would embolden the terrorists and make them believe they can wait us out,” President Bush said in his State of the Union address. “We are … Continue reading “The Media on Iraq:
Too Much Stenography, Not Enough Curiosity”

The latest polls show that most Americans are critical of the war in Iraq. But the option of swiftly withdrawing all U.S. troops from that country gets little media attention. So far this year, many news outlets have lapsed into conjecture on what George W. Bush has in mind for the Iraq war. At the … Continue reading “Time to Talk Withdrawal”

Top officials in Washington are now promoting jitters about Iran’s nuclear activities, while media outlets amplify the message. A confrontation with Tehran is on the second-term Bush agenda. So, we’re encouraged to obliquely think about the unthinkable. But no one can get very far trying to comprehend the enormity of nuclear weapons. They’ve shadowed human … Continue reading “Nuclear Deception Enters Its 60th Year”

When misleading buzzwords become part of the media landscape, they slant news coverage and skew public perceptions. That’s the story with the phrase "Iraqi forces" – now in routine use by U.S. media outlets, including the country’s most influential newspapers. The New York Times and the Washington Post have been leading the way in news … Continue reading “Will the Real ‘Iraqi Forces’ Please Stand Up?”

The conflict in Iraq has become a holy war. In both directions. On the surface, the most prominent headline on the New York Times front page Nov. 10 was simply matter-of-fact: "In Taking Fallujah Mosque, Victory by the Inch." Yet it’s not mere happenstance that American forces have bombed many of Fallujah’s mosques. For public … Continue reading “A Distant Mirror of Holy War”

Soon after the American death toll in Iraq passed the 1,000 mark, I thought of Saadoun Hammadi and some oratory he provided two years ago. At the time, Hammadi was the speaker of Iraq’s National Assembly. "The U.S. administration is now speaking war," Hammadi said. "We are not going to turn the other cheek. We … Continue reading “The Brave Posturing of Armchair Warriors”

The nation’s top dog of war is frisky again. Donald Rumsfeld has returned to high visibility – after a couple of months in the media doghouse following revelations about torture at the Abu Ghraib prison – now openly romancing the journalistic pack with his inimitable style of tough love as he growls and romps across … Continue reading “How the Media Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Rumsfeld”