2/06/2005|||110771547031904562||||||

HUMBLE PIE IS OFF THE MENU

Con Coughlin, biographer of Saddam Hussein and one of the most reliable of Iraq-watchers, takes an axe to that ancient tribe, the gloom-mongers of Mesopotamia. Having got the election wrong, they simply move on to the next item on the agenda. We're familiar enough with Robert Fisk's opinions; Coughlin also goes after Lindsey Hilsum of Channel 4 News. (As you may recall, her colleague Alex Thomson thinks reporters should embed with the insurgents in order to feel their pain.) And on a visit to the Beeb's studios, Coughlin has a peek inside the Corporation's alternative universe:

The BBC, together with a significant section of the media, could not bring itself to acknowledge that Iraq's liberation from Saddam was being ratified by the democratic process. When a reporter said that voter turn-out exceeded 60 per cent, far higher than expected, I heard one of the producers remark, sotto voce, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

UPDATE: Kristol & Kagan's assessment of the overall response: Never have so many been so miserable in the face of such good news

UPDATE II: A more positive aspect of the BBC's output, courtesy of Normblog's transcription of a radio interview with ordinary Iraqis:

Q: And you're wearing a hat with 'No fear' written on it.

A: Yes, 'No fear'. And I'm not scared of anybody...

|||Clive|||http://clivedavis.blogspot.com/2005/02/humble-pie-is-off-menu-con-coughlin.html|||2/06/2005 06:13:00 pm|||||||||

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