The High Life
Front linesReporters accompany troops in warMonday, April 07, 2003 By Allie Trimmell
Glass breaks, buildings fall and screams can be heard. These are the daily occurrences for the residents of Iraq and Kuwait since the start of the war. “Operation Iraqi Freedom” is entering its third week and has sparked protests all across the world. For the first time in history the war is being broadcast live on television. Journalists are also traveling along with the military, bringing the public a play-by-play of events. But some do not approve of the media coverage and do not trust what they see on the television. “I don’t know exactly what to think about the war because the media distorts the facts, so the public has a false sense of security,” Danielle Sides, sr., said. Others think that broadcasting the events of the war help everyone understand what is going on. “The media is doing a good job of informing the public about the war,” Kayla Larson, soph., said. The latest developments in the war include a chopper crashing in southern Iraq killing three U.S. soldiers, the first U.N. aid shipment arriving in northern Iraq, and a suicide bomber killing four U.S. troops, an act that Iraq says is “military policy.” And while the U.S. has been open about fallen soldiers, Iraq will only release civilian casualties and not those of Iraqi soldiers. Controversy also arose when the United States allowed the Red Cross to visit 4,000 Iraqi prisoners of war, but the American POWs kept by the Iraqis were not allowed to be seen by the Red Cross. The fears of a chemical attack are also being felt not only by civilians but also by the military, and some officials suspect that Iraq still has chemical weapons. “We don’t have chemical weapons... Iraq is cleaned of that,” Mohamed Aldouri, Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations, said in an interview with CNN. Helping civilians has also been on everyone’s mind. On Mar. 31, work on a pipeline began. The line will deliver 600,000 gallons of fresh water a day from Kuwait to Umm Qasr, a major city in Iraq. |