Tuesday, 27 July 2010

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   27 July 2010
Afghan war logs, war crimes and proportionality



The British media's handling of the release of over 90,000 classified military records from the war in Afghanistan is an important test for consistency in the reporting of 'war crimes' and 'proportionality' in the theatre of war.

These concepts are regularly invoked by journalists in the discussion of Israel's military actions, most recently following the Gaza flotilla raid in May 2010, and most commonly in relation to the Gaza war of 2008/9. Israel is routinely accused of 'war crimes' and use of excessive - or 'disproportionate' - force against the Palestinians and their supporters.

However, despite the fact that the leaked Afghan reports contain details of previously unreported Nato killings of hundreds of Afghan civilians, this research shows that virtually none of the reporting of this story in the UK has raised the spectre of 'war crimes' and the 'disproportionate use of force'.

KEY FINDINGS:

Of 52 articles published on the websites of BBC News, The Guardian, The Independent, The Times, The Daily Telegraph and Financial Times on 25/26 July, not one cited the international legal concept of 'proportionality'

Of 23 articles published on The Guardian's dedicated webpage, only two made references to possible war crimes. (1) Neither references appeared in the section called 'The death toll' which focused on civilian deaths

Of six BBC News articles, only one mentioned the issue of 'war crimes' when relating the claims by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. (2) In its 'selection' of the log contents, 'Civilians in the firing line' came seventh out of a list of nine topics. 'War crimes' or 'proportionality' were not mentioned (3)

Of the eight articles across the six publications which contained the phrase 'war crimes' in reference to the contents of the leaked reports (4), seven were in the context of reporting claims by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Only one 'war crimes' reference appeared out of this specific context

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New in Standpoint: Ankara's Proxy



Just Journalism Executive Director Michael Weiss has a new article up at Standpoint Magazine examining the relationship between Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH), the non-governmental organisation behind the Mavi Marmara ship that Israelis raided off the coast of Gaza on May 31.

To read all of Just Journalism's coverage of the Free Gaza flotilla affair and its aftermath, click here.

At the heart of Israel's deadly raid of the Mavi Marmara on May 31 is the Turkish charity Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (I.H.H.), the "Free Gaza" flotilla's lead organiser. But the extent to which I.H.H. has been enabled and underwritten by the Turkish government has been increasingly scrutinized by international observers over the past several months and for good reason. In the aftermath of the violent showdown on the high seas, which left nine Turkish passengers dead and a number of Israeli commandos critically injured, Turkey's parliament passed a resolution to "reconsider economic and military relations" with the Jewish state, a decades-long ally. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, returning to Istanbul after an emergency meeting with Hillary Clinton, blamed Israel alone for the confrontation and accused it of committing a "crime against humanity." But the most incendiery rhetoric came from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself.

Recent months have seen a weakening of the once assured Israeli-Turkish relationship almost to the point of dissolution and in the aftermath of the Mavi Marmara clash, Erdogan has not only depicted Israel as an anathema, worse than "bullies and pirates," but also full-throatedly endorsed its main clerical enemy in the Levant. "Hamas are resistance fighters who are struggling to defend their land," he told an ecstatic anti-Israel rally a few weeks ago in the Turkish city of Konya. "They have won an election. I have told this to US officials... I do not accept Hamas as a terrorist organization. I think the same today. They are defending their land."

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Posted by Britannia Radio at 12:55