The L.A. Times has a news analysis today of the aftermath of a Samarra mosque bombing, which has unleashed sectarian violence in Iraq. The news analysis continues the paper’s trend of portraying the current violence as a signal of an all-but inevitable civil war, rather than as the deliberate result of a strategy concocted by terrorists, possibly from Al Qaeda.
The linchpin of the paper’s portrayal of the current violence is to downplay (or not even mention) the fact that the U.S. Government believes that the bombing may be the work of Al Qaeda terrorists. For example, today’s news analysis describes the bombing suspects, not as “terrorists” or “Al Qaeda” or “Zarqawi,” but rather as simply “Sunnis”:
The surge of sectarian fighting after a Shiite Muslim shrine was bombed last week has dealt a hard blow to hopes for creating a functioning Iraqi state.
Instead of laboring to create a well-run economy or a democracy, Iraqi and American resources are being diverted to stave off a civil war between Shiites and Sunnis, who are suspected in the bombing.
While we still don’t definitively know who is behind the bombing, it’s clear that Al Qaeda operatives are among those “suspected” of involvement in the bombing. A search for Samarra and “Al Qaeda” on Google News reveals over 1,150 results. If you click through the stories returned in the search, you will see countless references to the fact that Al Qaeda generally, and Zarqawi specifically, are suspected of having been behind the bombing.
If you’re going to talk about who is “suspected” of having perpetrated the bombing, how’s about letting readers know that the suspects include Al Qaeda??
Knowing that Al Qaeda is suspected to be behind the attacks provides critical context for the current violence in Iraq, which could be portrayed as either the beginning of an inevitable civil war, or a momentary outbreak of violence spurred by a terrorist (possibly Al Qaeda) attack. It’s clear that the editors prefer the former explanation.
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