Fünf Jahre Irak-Krieg - auch im Netz

--- Es jährt sich mal wieder der Beginn des Irak-Krieges - und auch wenn es da wenig zu feiern gibt, erhöht sich zwangsweise mal wieder das Medieninteresse. AP etwa berichtet über den Krieg im Internet - allerdings mit sehr eingeschränktem Fokus auf die Milblogger:

The black-shrouded Web site opens with a soldier's silhouette and the pounding rhythm of Nine Inch Nails: ''Into the fire you can send us,'' the words go. ''From the fire we return.'' This is the Unlikely Soldier's blog, where a young infantryman known as The Usual Suspect rants and shares his experiences in what soldiers call The Sandbox. ''One year ago,'' when his unit first arrived in Iraq, ''we were nervous and excited and apprehensive. Ready to do this. Green as snot. I was all sorts of optimistic, thinking we were going to do great things and kick lots of ass, GI Joe hero type (expletive). That we could be cool with the people, and bring the hammer down on the baddies.'' Then, every soldier's nightmare: ''A low rumble shakes my Stryker (armored vehicle), and two of our guys are killed by an IED while they were dismounted. ''People emerged from their houses and cheered.'' This is the war in 2008 -- coming to a computer near you. Wars have often been defined by the new technologies that shaped them. The Civil War was the first photographed conflict in U.S. history, news of World War II was delivered by movie news reels, television made Vietnam the living room war and Desert Storm was the first war broadcast live by satellite. Historians will likely remember Operation Iraqi Freedom as iWar v1.0. The Web has done more than quicken reporting from the battlefield; it has made war interactive. Al-Qaida militants, conservative bloggers, peace activists, Iraqi civilians and the U.S. military all use the Internet to distribute their versions of the truth. They often engage in e-mail debates, but more often sink to slurs and threats when challenging an opposing point of view. ... Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, the top military spokesman in Iraq, insists that blogging soldiers need not worry, as long as they follow the same rules as embedded journalists and do not reveal information that could endanger operations or lives.

Keine Zensur, alles klaro, genauso wie für George "Mission längst accomplished" Bush und seinen Adlaten Dick Cheney, der gerade auf Promo-Tour vor Ort ist: it has been a difficult, challenging but nonetheless successful endeavor ... and it has been well worth the effort. Dabei hat inzwischen auch das Pentagon bestätigt, dass die vom Weißen Haus erfundenen Verknüpfungen zwischen Saddam Hussein und Al-Qaida Märchen waren. Interessant auch, wie große europäische TV-Sender Meinungsumfragen zur Zukunft des Irak auslegen: Der Eindruck entsteht, dass die BBC eine Periode von drei Jahren und die ARD sicherheitshalber nur von zwei Jahren herangezogen haben, um zu einem guten Ergebnis zu kommen. Da sage noch einer, die Medien würden alles nur schlecht reden wollen. Wenn man sich die Zahlen aus früheren Umfragen anschaut, dann haben 2005 noch 71 Prozent und 2004 70 Prozent gesagt, dass es ihnen persönlich sehr gut oder gut gehe. Immerhin sind das 15 Prozent mehr als im März 2007.