The Machinery of Night

Posted 9:05 AM by Angie Schultz

Press Coverage of Iraqi March

Many bloggers are complaining (sample here) of the lack of press coverage of the Iraqi anti-terrorism / pro-democracy march. Well, it was prominently sited on the front page of the Houston Chronicle, main photo, above the fold. How 'bout them apples?

Unfortunately, two photos and the accompanying captions were all there were on the subject! There was no story inside, as there usually is with a front page photo.

(I'd link to the Chronicle's web site, but I didn't see the photos or anything about the march on their front page. They typically have very few photos on their web site.)

The main photo is of men on the pillars in Fardus [sp?] Square. They're waving red flags, so presumably they were Zayed's Commies. (Here and here are Zayed's pictures of the Communists standing on the pillars, waving their flags. Your totalitarian philosophies always know how to make a stunning visual impression.)

(UPDATE: The photo accompanies this story by Maureen Fan in the Seattle Times. Click on the picture for a larger image.

The article takes a very ambivalent view of the march, devoting several paragraphs to news of continued attacks, a woman equally angry at Saddam and the US, and men who cite shortages and unemployment as their complaints---though they blame these on the terrorists. No bias in the article, though!)

The caption in the Chronicle reads:

Common Cause:

A heavily policed march in central Baghdad on Wednesday, organized peacefully by dozens of Iraq's major political parties and religious groups, drew thousands into the street to protest the attacks by guerilla fighters that have injured and killed Iraqi civilians as well as U.S. troops and others.

[For the pillar men]: Several Iraqi men stand atop pillars to wave flags and signs.

There was also a picture of two men in white burnooses (they looked like brothers) standing next to a man in a fur cap, who has his back to them but is looking over his shoulder at them. He seems to be holding hands with someone on his left. This picture is captioned:

Illustrating the diversity in the march, Iraqi communists rubbed shoulders with the Shiite Muslim group al Sadr supporters in voicing their support for peace and democracy.

UPDATE II: The photo is here, as part of a slide show. This is the link if you want to see the other pictures. The same Maureen Fan article (linked above) accompanies them.

Hmmm...Zayed says:

What was interesting, a group of Al-Sadr supporters showed up and started shouting "NO NO to occupiers" obviously in an attempt to hijack the demonstration. They drowned in the rest of the crowd.

None of the al-Sadr supporters in his picture is wearing a burnoose. However, several men in his photos of tribal leaders are.

Anyhow, at least this is some scrap of attention from Old Media.