He was a comical figure in 2003 when U.S. forces were on the doorstep about to drive Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein into internal exile. Clad in a military uniform and wearing a beret, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf appeared on American television proclaiming that all was well with Iraq and the Americans were going to be defeated. Among his more outrageous lies was that American soldiers were committing suicide “by the hundreds” even as U.S. Army tanks closed in with the sounds of conflict raging in the background. Al-Sahhaf would soon earn the moniker “Baghdad Bob,” in large measure because he was a bloviating, dishonest, dolt paraded out to lie into the camera for his dictator.
The American media appropriately ridiculed al-Sahhaf, giving him an alternative sobriquet “Comical Ali,” a play on the nickname “Chemical Ali,” assigned to Hussein’s Defense Minister Ali Hassan al-Majid for his use of deadly chemicals on the Kurdish population in Iraq. Iraq had many such people, but al-Sahhaf was the public face of a despicable regime that was everything a Constitutional Republic like ours isn’t. Such people are expected to arise in dictatorships where truth is the first casualty in the pursuit of power. But not here. Not in America. We have a free press, right?
A free press is, as our Founding Fathers knew, essential to maintaining our liberty and sustaining freedom. But when it falls into a state of disrepair where the trust and confidence of the people plummets to the levels we witness today, its vital role in providing accountability of the government evaporates into thin air. The injuries of time to the press reflect the divisive nature of our politics and culture today.
But it would be a mistake to suggest that the press is more negative today than it has been in ages past, particularly toward politicians. Indeed, in America there’s a long and honorable history of the press making life miserable for the political class and people of power and influence. That is not altogether bad, unless it is unjustified. Nevertheless, a free press does not mean a free ride for those who hold power in our society. Indeed, the role of the press is given precise meaning in the words of a fictious Irish bartender, Mr. Dooley, created in 1893 by the Chicago Evening Post journalist and humorist Finley Peter Dunne. Expressed with an Irish lilt of soft vowels and hard consonants, Dunne puts these words in Dooley’s mouth.
“Th’ newspaper does ivrything f’r us. It runs th’ polis foorce an’ th’ banks, commands th’ milishy, controls th’ ligislachure, baptizes th’ young, marries th’ foolish, comforts th’ afflicted, afflicts th’ comfortable, buries th’ dead an’ roasts thim aftherward.”
The prominent comment here is the task to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” That’s a worthy charge to the press and a key element in making the government accountable. But if the public fails to trust its fourth estate—the press—the only thing that is afflicted is the truth, which can give no comfort to anyone.
Witness the assault on truth by the Administration of President Joe Biden. Now that they have seen the polls that show Americans do not agree with the “defund the police” movement that sprung from the loins of liberals, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has unashamedly proclaimed it was the Republicans who are “defunding” the police. This is, of course, a palpable lie. Psaki is experienced in such matters. In 2013 as an Obama State Department spokesperson, she lied to the press about the deletion of a portion of a video interview where she justified the need for the State Department to lie to the press about negotiations with Iran on a potential nuclear deal.
The “new” Psaki” is in fact an “older” version. Adding to her lists of deceits, she now professes that it was the Administration of former President Donald Trump that caused the current border crisis. That’s a laughable contention, and the press knows it. The border situation has erupted since the Biden Administration ended President Trump’s polices keeping asylum-seekers in Mexico before they can enter the U.S., to say nothing of aggressively deporting criminal illegal aliens and building a wall to keep them out.
Psaki has become the embodiment of Baghdad Bob in the Biden Administration. She has perfected the ability to look into the camera and tell a whopper, even as the press smiles back at her adoringly.
Remember how she denied that Mr. Biden supported Major League Baseball’s decision to move the All-Star game from Atlanta following passage of Georgia’s voting integrity law? His support for MLB’s decision is a matter of video record.
Al-Sahhaf was afflicted by the press. But journalist have no zeal to do the same to Baghdad Jen. Mr. Dooley would be disappointed.
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