"Operation Swarmer"

On 19 March 2006 I wrote to the BBC about their coverage of US military “Operation Swarmer”:

Dear Jim Muir, BBC News, Baghdad
Dear Adam Brookes, BBC News, Washington
Dear Steve Herrmann, Editor, News Online

“How US assault grabbed global attention” (By Jim Muir, BBC News Website, Friday, 17 March 2006), reads:

By the middle of Day Two in the ongoing operation, it was clear from both US and Iraqi military sources that the advance had met no resistance.

There were no clashes with insurgents. No casualties were reported. (...)

The use of the phrase "the largest air assault operation" was clearly crucial, raising visions of a massive bombing campaign.

In fact, all the phrase meant is that more helicopters were deployed to airlift the troops into the area than in previous such operations. (...)

The reasons for it being given such high-profile publicity are clearly open to speculation.

“Iraqi troop control 'to spread'” (By Adam Brookes, BBC News website, Friday, 17 March 2006), reads:

The general spoke as Operation Swarmer entered its third day.

This is a large-scale operation conducted by airborne troops.

It is aimed at rooting out suspected insurgent networks near the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad.

On the Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) website, which is part of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the article “IRAQ: Hundreds of families displaced due to major offensive” reads:

BAGHDAD, 19 Mar 2006 (IRIN) - Hundreds of families have fled the city of Samarra, some 120 km northwest of the capital, Baghdad, after US coalition and Iraqi forces launched the biggest air offensive in the country since 2003. (...)

“We have informed the IRCS’s office in the capital about the critical situation and they are going to send a convoy to the area. The main requirements are blankets, tents, food supplies, potable water and medicine,” explained Ahmed Tikrit, a volunteer for the IRCS and resident of Samarra. (...)

“When they started to hit our city I didn’t take anything. I just took my family and ran like hell. We don’t have anything to eat or wear,” urged Barakat Muhammad, a resident and father of five in Samarra. (...)

According to a senior official in the Iraq Ministry of Defence, Ra’ad Shalal, more than 75 insurgents have been captured so far. He added that there had been no civilian deaths reported since the operation began.

But local doctors say that at least 35 civilians including women and children have been treated at the local hospital with injuries caused by the air-strikes. In addition, 18 bodies had been taken to the hospital since 17 March.

QUESTION: Could you please explain why in your articles and in others (for example in “Iraq in civil war, says former PM”, BBC News website, Sunday, 19 March 2006) there is no mention at all about the results of this military operation on the people of Iraq? Will you update these articles or will you write another one on the real effects of this operation on human lives? Or do you think that those Iraqi people don’t deserve your time and are too insignificant for the BBC to cover their story?

Thank you for your time and I look forward for your comments.

Kind regards.

Gabriele Zamparini

BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad replied the same day. Unfortunately I can't post his email because he expressly requested me not to quote from it. But in his email, Mr Muir says that what the IRIN reports is false. What the IRIN reports never happened. Of course, Mr Muir couldn't check the story personally. He has only second hand information. But he is sure. "Operation Swarmer" is nothing but a show for the media. Nothing serious really happened.

The same day I wrote back to BBC's Jim Muir:

Dear Jim,

Thank you for your email.

I am well aware of the situation in Iraq and of the many risks journalists can have if they were going outside. For this reason I don’t understand why most of the journalists keep just repeating what the US military is telling them. Maybe some more skepticism would help.

About this concrete case. You write that what IRIN is reporting is false.

IRIN is a serious organization. Even if you have doubts about what they are reporting – and since you can’t check it out for yourself – why didn’t you write what IRIN reported? You could simply saying IRIN claims that but none else is reporting that.

Don’t you think that in that way you would have done a much better job as a journalist?

You and your colleagues usually report what the Pentagon, the White House, 10 Downing Street, etc claim. Couldn’t you do the same with IRIN?

Finally, why do you write “XXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX” ? We got to the point that there is an official version of the facts for the public and another version (the truth?) for the “professionals”?

Thank you for your time and I look forward for your comments.

Best wishes,
Gabriele Zamparini

Again, on the same day BBC's Jim Muir writes back. Again I can't post his e-mail. He writes again that what the IRIN reports has never happened. That he had checked it out, but nothing. Even the CNN agrees. Nothing happened.

Again, on the same day I write again to BBC's Jim Muir:

Dear Jim,

Thank you for your email.

I don’t know if Samarra was bombed, but the IRIN report is very detailed and says that:

Hundreds of families have fled the city of Samarra, some 120 km northwest of the capital, Baghdad, after US coalition and Iraqi forces launched the biggest air offensive in the country since 2003. (...)

“We have informed the IRCS’s office in the capital about the critical situation and they are going to send a convoy to the area. The main requirements are blankets, tents, food supplies, potable water and medicine,” explained Ahmed Tikrit, a volunteer for the IRCS and resident of Samarra. (...)

“When they started to hit our city I didn’t take anything. I just took my family and ran like hell. We don’t have anything to eat or wear,” urged Barakat Muhammad, a resident and father of five in Samarra. (...)

According to a senior official in the Iraq Ministry of Defence, Ra’ad Shalal, more than 75 insurgents have been captured so far. He added that there had been no civilian deaths reported since the operation began.

But local doctors say that at least 35 civilians including women and children have been treated at the local hospital with injuries caused by the air-strikes. In addition, 18 bodies had been taken to the hospital since 17 March.

You didn’t report anything that IRIN writes because you are 100% sure that everything IRIN writes in this article is false.

I hope you are right.

What if you are wrong? What if indeed “Hundreds of families have fled the city of Samarra...” ?

In these circumstances, where you can’t have first hand information, how can you dismiss a report from IRIN?

Best wishes,
Gabriele

At this point, I din't get any more reply from BBC's Jim Muir.

The same day I wrote to IRIN:

Dear editor,

RE: “IRAQ: Hundreds of families displaced due to major offensive”

I have contacted a journalist with one of the major European news network in Iraq. This journalist wrote me that what IRIN writes is false.

URGENT QUESTION: Please, could you confirm your story?

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Gabriele Zamparini

Today, 21 March 2006, I got the following reply from IRIN:

Dear Gabriele Zamparini

You have inquired about the IRIN story on Iraq and the displacement after the offensive. We have double-checked this and, to the best of our knowledge, the information is correct.

Could you let us know for what purpose you would like to use the information in this story?

We thank you warmly for your interest in IRIN – Middle-East’s news service.

Kind regards

XXXXXXXXXXXXX
UNOCHA IRIN

Now, should I keep the information above or should I make this story available to the public? Of course I will publish this story. Will the BBC and Jim Muir sue me? Will anyone in the so-called mainstream media pick up this story? Will anyone in the so-called alternative media do it?

To be fair, on the same day I wrote to the BBC I also sent the following e-mail to the Independent:

Dear Raymond Whitaker,

In “Iraq occupation: Three years on and still they're lying to us” (Raymond Whitaker, The Independent, 19 March 2006), you write:

Three days into the offensive against suspected insurgents, there had been no clashes and no casualties among American or Iraqi troops. (...) But far from being a major counter-insurgency campaign of the kind which demolished Fallujah in November 2004 at the cost of thousands of lives, Operation Swarmer was a "sweep" exercise in a sparsely populated desert area.

On the Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) website, which is part of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the article “IRAQ: Hundreds of families displaced due to major offensive” reads:

BAGHDAD, 19 Mar 2006 (IRIN) - Hundreds of families have fled the city of Samarra, some 120 km northwest of the capital, Baghdad, after US coalition and Iraqi forces launched the biggest air offensive in the country since 2003. (...)

“We have informed the IRCS’s office in the capital about the critical situation and they are going to send a convoy to the area. The main requirements are blankets, tents, food supplies, potable water and medicine,” explained Ahmed Tikrit, a volunteer for the IRCS and resident of Samarra. (...)

“When they started to hit our city I didn’t take anything. I just took my family and ran like hell. We don’t have anything to eat or wear,” urged Barakat Muhammad, a resident and father of five in Samarra. (...)

According to a senior official in the Iraq Ministry of Defence, Ra’ad Shalal, more than 75 insurgents have been captured so far. He added that there had been no civilian deaths reported since the operation began.

But local doctors say that at least 35 civilians including women and children have been treated at the local hospital with injuries caused by the air-strikes. In addition, 18 bodies had been taken to the hospital since 17 March.

QUESTION: Could you please explain why in your article there is no mention at all about the results of this military operation on the people of Iraq? Will you write another article on the real effects of this operation on human lives? Or do you think that those Iraqi people don’t deserve your time and are too insignificant for the Independent to cover their story? “Iraq occupation: Three years on and still they're lying to us”. Indeed!

Thank you for your time and I look forward for your comments.

Kind regards,
Gabriele Zamparini

I have not received any reply yet.

***

UPDATES: Today, June 12, 2006, I received the following email from BBC Jim Muir:

Dear Gabriele

With reference to our earlier exchanges about Operation Swarmer and IRIN's report on the same : Following my message to them (which predated your message to me) IRIN conducted an extensive investigation into their report and have now withdrawn it, as they were not able to substantiate it. You can check this by going to their website. I don't imagine that you will be inclined to point this out on your own website, and I have no desire at all to embarrass IRIN, most of whose work is excellent.

For your information, the BBC in Baghdad does not operate either from a hotel or from the Green Zone.

If you have any further comments on my work, please address them to :

www.bbc.co.uk/complaints

Best wishes

Jim Muir

and this is my reply:

Dear Jim,

Thank you for your email. Contrary to what you write, I have just posted it on my website.

About what you write regarding IRIN - “I have no desire at all to embarrass IRIN, most of whose work is excellent.” - I am sure IRIN won’t be embarrassed for one mistake you claim they made. After all, the BBC has made “mistakes” constantly and no embarrassment has ever come from your corporation.

Finally, when you write: “For your information, the BBC in Baghdad does not operate either from a hotel or from the Green Zone.”, what’s your point? Is the BBC able to work freely in Iraq, without having to count for its survival on the military might provided by the US and UK forces? Is that journalism?

Since you give me this chance, please could you explain why the BBC is calling those who fight against a foreign, military, brutal, immoral and illegal occupation of their own country “insurgents” and “terrorists” instead of using the only proper word fitting to them, Resistance?

Also, have you ever thought that by completely relying on this brutal and illegal occupation to do your job, according to international law you and your colleagues could be accused of actively aiding and abetting in war crimes and crimes against humanity?

Thank you and please note that this is NOT a personal attack.

Best wishes,
Gabriele Zamparini

BBC's Jim Muir's new reply:

Dear Gabriele

I do not "claim" that IRIN made a mistake, they admit it.

My point re hotels is in answer to your snide remarks in earlier communcations about our staying in hotels and "BBC hotel journalism", as though we are somehow having a safe and comfortable time. I assure you we are having neither. Nor are we dependent for our security on foreign forces, except on the very rare occasions when we go on embeds. How safe that is, you can judge from the death of two CBS colleagues two weeks ago. Of course we cannot operate freely - there is a war going on, in which we are at definite risk from both sides. As I wrote to you before, we are well aware of the limitations, but still judge it better to be there than not. You may think you know better from where you are writing, but we believe that trying to report Iraq from London or wherever would not work. You accuse us of "actively aiding and abetting in war crimes and crimes against humanity" - do you think incidents such as Haditha would have been credibly reported had the media not been present in Iraq? It was only investigated by the US after the media had taken it up.

I don't think there is anything I can say that will convince you that we are sincerely trying to do our best to give an accurate picture of what is happening in Iraq, in difficult and dangerous conditions. So with regret, I don't wish to spend any more time on this apparently fruitless task.

Best wishes

Jim Muir

... and my new reply to him:

Dear Jim,

Thanks for your reply.

You make some very important points and your words “there is a war going on, in which we are at definite risk from both sides” are very interesting and full of consequences.

One point in particular I think deserves some more details. You write:

“do you think incidents such as Haditha would have been credibly reported had the media not been present in Iraq? It was only investigated by the US after the media had taken it up.”

Independent journalist Dahr Jamail (he spent lots of time reporting from Iraq, and he has never been embedded) recently wrote:

Al-Jazeera channel, with over 40 million viewers in the Arab world, is the largest broadcaster of news in the Middle East. It has been bearing the brunt of an ongoing violent US propaganda campaign. Their station headquarters in both Afghanistan and Baghdad were destroyed by US forces during the US invasions of both countries. In Baghdad, the attack on their office by a US warplane killed their correspondent Tareq Ayoub. Additionally, al-Jazeera reporters throughout Iraq have been systematically detained and intimidated before the broadcaster was banned outright from the country. These are somewhat contradictory actions for an occupying force ostensibly attempting to promote democracy and freedom in Iraq.

On November 19, 2005, the day of the Haditha Massacre, al-Jazeera had long since been banned from operating in Iraq. The station forced to conduct its war reporting from a desk in Doha, Qatar, was doing so via telephone. Two Iraqis worked diligently to cover the US occupation of Iraq through a loose network of contacts within Iraq. Defying the US-imposed extreme challenges, al-Jazeera, by dint of its responsible reporting, had the entire Haditha scoop as soon as it occurred, which they shared with Western and other media outlets, while the latter were content to participate in delaying the story nearly four months by regurgitating unverified military releases.

Two days after the massacre, DahrJamailiraq.com was the only free place on the Internet that carried al-Jazeera's report translated into English (it could be viewed at MidEastWire.com for a fee).

The anchorperson for al-Jazeera in Doha, Qatar, interviewed journalist Walid Khalid in Bahgdad. Khalid's report, translated by MidEastWire.com, was as follows:
Yesterday evening, an explosive charge went off under a US Marines vehicle in the al-Subhani area, destroying it completely. Half an hour later, the US reaction was violent. US aircraft bombarded four houses near the scene of the incident, causing the immediate death of five Iraqis. Afterward, the US troops stormed three adjacent houses where three families were living near the scene of the explosion. Medical sources and eyewitnesses close to these families affirmed that the US troops, along with the Iraqi Army, executed 21 persons; that is, three families, including nine children and boys, seven women, and three elderly people. (...)

It wasn't until four months after the event that the Western corporate media started to straighten out the story. On March 19, 2006, it was Time Magazine that "broke" the Haditha story in a piece titled "Collateral Damage or Civilian Massacre in Haditha." The primary sources for this piece were a video shot by an Iraqi journalism student produced the day after the massacre and interviews conducted with witnesses. Another glaring evidence of how a few simple interviews with Iraqis and some readily available photographs and video can drastically correct the glaring errors in the Western media's representations of the occupation. (...)

But the Haditha Massacre is far from being the only story that the Western corporate media has delayed covering. On May 4, 2004, journalist Dahr Jamail, one of the authors of this piece, wrote "Telltale Signs of Torture Lead Family to Demand Answers." The story, published by the NewStandard, was about a 57-year-old Iraqi named Sadiq Zoman, who was detained at his residence in Kirkuk on July 21, 2003, when US troops raided the Zoman family home in search of weapons and, apparently, to arrest Zoman. Over a month later, on August 23, soldiers dropped Zoman off, comatose, at the main hospital in Tikrit. His body bore telltale signs of torture: point burns on his skin, bludgeon marks on the back of his head, a badly broken thumb, electrical burns on the soles of his feet and genitals and whip marks across his back.

Jamail originally wrote the story in January 2004 and shared the information with over 100 newspapers in the US for them to report on. The story was conveniently ignored by the US corporate media until it was forced to run other torture photos from Abu Ghraib after journalist Seymour Hersh threatened to scoop 60 Minutes II by running his piece about torture in the New Yorker, in late April 2004.

Another example of this delayed "reporting" involved the report on the use of white phosphorous by the US military against civilians in Fallujah during the November 2004 assault on the city. Jamail originally reported a story titled "Unusual Weapons Used in Fallujah" with Inter Press Service. US corporate media ignored the story until the Independent in the UK ran his reporting about the atrocity. Even after this, aside from a few token editorials that mentioned this war crime, most major news outlets continued in their silence. This despite the fact that the Pentagon admitted to the use of these weapons, and residents of Fallujah like Abu Sabah had long since told a reporter, "They used these weird bombs that put up smoke like a mushroom cloud, then small pieces fall from the air with long tails of soke behind them." He also described pieces of these bombs that exploded into large fires that burnt the skin when water was thrown on the burns.

There are countless other stories which the US corporate media has deliberately delayed from their reportage and which may never reach the wide US audience that they deserve. It is necessary to ask, when will the corporate media report on stories such as the following: (...)

Please, take the time to read what independent journalist Dahr Jamail wrote in Propaganda and Haditha, By Dahr Jamail and Jeff Pflueger, t r u t h o u t, Friday 09 June 2006. He writes about the same Iraq and the same war you, the BBC and the other state-corporate media do.

Why then is there so much difference?

Best regards,
Gabriele Zamparini