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Spring 2005
Tuesdays, 3 – 6 p.m.
Mark Danner and Rone Tempest
No war since Vietnam – perhaps no war in American history – has brought more controversy upon journalists and the practice of journalism than the American war in Iraq. From the bitterly divisive launch of the war and the controversy over the “missing” weapons of mass destruction that came in its wake, to the ongoing guerrilla war and the accompanying car-bombings and kidnappings that have severely curtailed journalists’ freedom of movement, to the so-called “back-door draft” that has kept National Guardsmen and reservists fighting in Iraq long past their agreed obligations, the Iraq war has placed extreme stress on journalists’ ability to separate fact from propaganda and to report fairly the news from the battlefield. In this course we will study the Iraq war and journalists’ performance in reporting it, from the run-up to the war, to the embedding in the war’s opening stages, to the effort to report the insurgency and the lives and struggles of soldiers on the ground as they cope with the frustrations of the “back door draft.” Students in the class will participate in an ongoing Los Angeles Times project following California National Guard troops on their one-year mission in Iraq, interviewing the soldiers and their families as they return from Iraq, and contributing stories to the Los Angeles Times website.
Mark Danner, a longtime New Yorker writer, has reported from Central America, Haiti, the Balkans and Iraq. His most recent book is “Torture and Truth: America, Abu Ghraib and the War on Terror.”
Rone Tempest, a longtime foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, has reported from India, China, France, Afghanistan and Pakistan, among many other stories.
PART ONE: The Run Up To The War
January 18: Introduction: Your War and How to Deal With It -
The Biggest Story
January 25: The Run Up To The War.
Assignment: The Iraq War Reader: History, Documents, Opinions
Perle, Wurmser and Feith et al, “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm www.israeleconomy.org/strat1.htm
Gary Khalil, “Wither the Abrams Doctrine: good or bad policy? –H- Reserve Forces Review” www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_mOIBY/is_9_79/ai_112129382/print
“Briefing Paper on the National Guard” (handout); “Major National Guard Call Ups” (handout)
Master Sgt. Bob Haskell, “Guard Bonuses” The National Guard, 20 December 2004 www.ngb.army.mil/new/story.asp?id=1373
Melissa Nix, Interview with Maj. Bruce Jacobs; Interview with Col. Mike Doubler (handouts)
Jon Lee Anderson, “A Man of the Shadows: Can Iyad Allawi hold Iraq together?”, The New Yorker, Profiles, 24 January 2005 www.newyorker.com/printable/?fact/050124fa_fact1
Michael P. Noonan, “The Future of the Reserves and the National Guard: A Conference Report, 19 January 2005 www.fpri.org
Jeff Nachtigal, “One Mother’s War”, The Los Angeles Times, 30 January 2005 www.latimes.com/features/printedition/magazine/la-tm-guard30jan30-sb,1,3668041.story?coll=la-home-magazine
Neela Banerjee, “Few but Organized, Iraq Veterans Turn War Critics”, The New York Times, 23 January 2005 www.nytimes.com/2005/01/23/national/23vets.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print
John Hendren, “Pentagon Files Reveal More Allegations of Abuse in Iraq” the Los Angeles Times, 25 January 2005 www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-abuse25jan25,0,3011482.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Rone Tempest, ”Who’s Dying in Our War?” the Los Angeles Times Magazine, 30 January 2005, www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-tm-calguard05jan30,1,5168426.story
Col. Mark P. Myer, “The National Guard Citizen-Soldier: The Linkage between Responsible National Security Policy and the Will of the People, 1 April 1996, Air War College Report
February 1: The Creation of Iraq
Assignment: Alissa J. Rubin, “Dispatch from Amarah, Iraq: To Get to the Story, You Have to Get to the Story”, the Los Angeles Times, 23 January 2005
Janet Reitman, “The Baghdad Follies: Hunkered down with the press corps in Iraq”, Rolling Stone, 14 June 2004, http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/6186837?rnd=1098283669179&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1040
Phebe Marr, History of Modern Iraq
Susan Sontag, “Reflections on September 11th”; Robert Kagan and William Kristol, “What to Do about Iraq”; Ann Coulter, “Why We Hate Them”; Jonathan Schell, “Pre-emptive Defeat, or How Not to Fight Proliferation”; Lawrence Kaplan and William Kristol, “America’s Mission, After Baghdad”, The Iraq War Reader
Each student to summarize last week’s coverage of Iraq War in a particular foreign press
February 8: Inside Iraq’s Autocracy (+ Election)
Assignment: Kanan Makiya, Republic of Fear
Kanan Makiya, “Our Hopes Betrayed: The US Blueprint for Post-Saddam Government”; The Iraq War Reader
Kanan Makiya, “AFTER SADDAM: The Shiite Obligation: Iraq’s majority group must rise above the politics of victim hood”, 7 February 2005
Peter Beaumont, “Shia ‘poll landslide’ set to put religion at heart of Iraqi power”, the Observer, 6 February 2005
Greg Mitchell, “UPDATE: Officials Back Away from Early Estimates of Iraqi Voter Turnout”, Editor and Publisher, 2 February 2005
PART TWO Iraq: The Invasion
February 15: The War From the White House
Assignment: Bob Woodward, Plan of Attack; Jon Lee Anderson, The Fall of Baghdad (read first 3 chapters & summary)
Rod Nordland, Tom Masland and Christopher Dickey, “Unmasking the Insurgents”, Newsweek, 7 February 2005, http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6885867/site/newsweek/
Writing assignment: Solve the Problem of Covering the Iraq War (Set Up Your Own Bureau as a Foreign Editor in Iraq)
“Birnbaum v. Jon Lee Anderson”, The New Yorker, Personalities, 18 October 2004
February 22: Plan of Attack, Part II
Assignment: Anonymous, Imperial Hubris
James Fallows, “Blind into Baghdad”, the Atlantic Monthly, January/February 2004, www.epic-usa.org/Default.aspx?tabid=185
James Fallows, “The Fifty-first State or What Will Happen after We Invade Iraq”,the Atlantic, 10 October 2002, www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/767883/posts
Ron Suskind, “Why Are These Men Laughing?”, Esquire, January 2003 http://www.ronsuskind.com/newsite/articles/archives/000032.html
Adam Davidson, “Out of Iraq: the rise and fall of one man’s occupation”, Harper’s, February 2005, http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1111/is_1857_310/ai_n9525400
March 1: The War, from Baghdad And Fallujah
Nir Rosen, “In the Balance”, the New York Times Magazine, 20 February 2005, http://psychoanalystsopposewar.org/resources_files/In_the_Balance.html
Patrick Graham, “Beyond Fallujah: a year with the Iraqi resistance”, Harper’s, June 2004 http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1111/is_1849_308/ai_n6134245
Nir Rosen, “Letter from Falluja: HOME RULE: A dangerous excursion into the heart of the Sunni opposition”, the New Yorker, http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040705fa_fact
Larry Diamond, “What Went Wrong in Iraq and Prospects for Democracy and Stability”, Presentation at UCLA, http://www.isop.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=20485
Andrew Lee Butters, “Revenge of the Kurds”, Time, 7 March, 2005, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1032335,00.html
BIN LADEN FATWAS Declaration of War 1996, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/international/fatwa_1996.html Jihad against Jews and Crusaders 1998, http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm Fatwa before 04 Presidential Election, http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7201.htm
GEORGE W. BUSH SPEECHES Second Inaugural Speech: http://www.whitehouse.gov/inaugural/ Axis of Evil Speech: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020129-11.html VMI Speech: http://usa.usembassy.de/gemeinsam/bush041702.htm West Point Speech: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/06/20020601-3.html Mission Accomplished/Truman Doctrine Speech Sept 20 2001 Speech (Either with Us or Against Us): http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/specials/attacked/transcripts/bushaddress_092001.html
March 8: The Battle of Algiers: What Can We Learn about the Nature of Insurgencies?
Watch Battle of Algiers; Discussion afterwards
PART THREE Mistakes, Obstacles and Disasters
March 15: Iraq and the National Guard
Writing Assignment: What can the U.S. military campaign in Iraq learn from Battle of Algiers
Guard, Reserve Service Takes High Financial Toll, Morning Edition, 15 March 2005,
Mark Mazzetti, “Iraq War Compels Pentagon to Rethink Big-Picture Strategy”, the Los Angeles Times, 11 March 2005
Mark Mazzetti, “Pentagon Won’t Extend Reservists Deployment”, the Los Angeles Times, 3 February 2005
Mark Mazzetti, “Leader of Army Reserve Fears a ‘Broken Force’”, the Los Angeles Times, 6 January 2005
IN BRIEF, “Governor Wants Guard Troops Back for Fires ”, the Los Angeles Times, 5 March 2005
TIMES WIRE SERVICES, “Army Recruiting Goal Falls Short”, the Los Angeles Times, 4 March 2005
Nancy Ramsey, “Through Soldiers’ Eyes: Several new documentaries show the Iraq conflict from the point of view of U.S. troops”, the Los Angeles Times, 4 March 2005
Elizabeth Mehren, “Iraq War Lands in the Midst of Vermont’s Town Hall Meetings”, the Los Angeles Times, 2 March 2005
Susannah Rosenblatt, “With a Direct Hit to Every Heart”, the Los Angeles Times, 16 February 2005
March 22: [No Class, Spring Recess March 21-25]
March 29: Iraq and the War on Terror
Assignment: Michael Massing, Now They Tell Us
Michael Massing, the New York Review of Books, (his sequel on Iraq reporting) http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=2020
Mark Danner, Torture and Truth: America, Abu Ghraib and the War on Terror Read the five 5 chapters and then several of the documents, including the Taguba Report, the Red Cross Report, the prisoner depositions and the Schlesinger Report
Seymour Hersh, Chain of Command
Louise Roug, “Extreme Cinema Verite: GIs shoot Iraq battle footage and edit into music videos filled with death and destruction”, the Los Angeles Times, 14 March 2005, www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-fg-videos14mar14,1,1044248.story
Press Release, “Discovery Times Channel’s Critically Acclaimed Series “Off to War” Signed for a Full Season, 4 March 2005, http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050304/dcf020_1.html?printer=1
Richard Boudreaux, “Iraq’s Sunni Arabs Seek Their Voice”, the Los Angeles Times, 28 March, 2005 www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-sunnis28mar28,0,5173092.story?coll=la-home-headlines
PLUS watch “Gunner Palace”
April 5: Torture, Abu Ghraib and its Aftermath
Assignment: Jane Mayer, “Annals of Justice: Outsourcing Torture”, 14 February 2005, the New Yorker, http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?050214fa_fact6
Writing Assignment: Comparative Piece on Abu Ghraib Torture, using documents from “Torture and Truth”
Profile: Summary Paragraph Due
Watch First Episode: Off to War
PART FOUR Quagmire or Victory
April 12: Democracy in Iraq
Assignment: Carl Conetta, The Iraqi Election “Bait and Switch”: Faulty Poll Will Not Bring Peace or US Withdrawal, Project on Defense Alternatives Briefing Report #17, 25 January 2005, http://www.comw.org/pda/0501br17.html
Carl Conetta, “The Iraqi election: “first step” or detour?”, Global Beat, 7 February 2005, The Center for War, Peace and the News Media, http://www.nyu.edu/globalbeat/syndicate/conetta020705.html
Marina Ottaway, “Iraq: Without Consensus, Democracy is Not the Answer”, March 2005, Carnegie Endowment Policy Brief on Iraq Elections, http://www.carnegieendowment.org/files/PB36.ottaway.FINAL.pdf
Marina Ottaway, “Iraq Votes: Can the Iraqi elections save the state?”, the San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 January 2005, http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050130/news_mz1e30ottawa.html
Discussion: Reporting on Iraq (and other War Zones)
Watch Second Episode: Off to War
April 19: NO CLASS; Meetings with Rone about profiles; rough draft due before meeting
Assignment: Doug Smith, “The Conflict in Iraq; Young Activist’s Life Cut Short in Iraq Blast; the Los Angeles Times, 18 April 2005
Charles Burress, “Noted activist for war victims killed in car bomb attack, Californian Marla Ruzicka championed humanitarian aid in Iraq”, the San Francisco Chronicle, 18 April 2005, http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/04/18/RUZICKA.TMP
Pamela Constable, “Appreciation: A Disarming Presence in a Dangerous World,” the Washington Post, 18 April 2005, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64144-2005Apr18.html
April 26: Post Saddam Corruption
Discussion: Principles of Organization: How to best organize multiple and long-term reporting assignments
Watch Third Episode: Off to War
Assignment: T. Christian Miller, the Los Angeles Times (14 articles sent earlier via Factiva)
Rone Tempest, “Advocate for War Victims is Mourned; Marla Ruzicka died in her quest to document civilian casualties in Iraq, the Los Angeles Times, 24 April 2005,
Finish Phebe Marr, History of Iraq
Recommended Resource: Brookings Iraq Index: http://www.brookings.edu/iraqindex
May 3: Class at Mark’s
Review Profiles and Photographs; Watch and Discuss “Z” Mark Sappenfield, “Despite hardships of war, many soldiers reenlist”, the Christian Science Monitor, 3 May 2005, http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0503/p01s01-usmi.html
Final profiles due
May 10: Classes End
Assignment: Molly Bingham & Romanesko Debate
Molly Bingham, “Home from Iraq: Journalist urges Americans to search for ‘truth, freedom’”, Louisville Courier Journal, 8 May 2005, http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050508/OPINION04/505080346/1054/OPINION
Secret Downing Street Memo, the Sunday Times, 1 May 2005, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1593607,00.html Profile Photographs Review
May 20: Semester Ends