"Deeply Concerned about the Welfare of the Iraqi People": The Sanctions Regime against Iraq in the New York Times (1996-98)

Abstract

This investigation presents an analysis of 650 articles published in the New York Times from 1996 to 1998 concerning the US-backed UN sanctions regime against Iraq. After a brief survey of media-state relations in the US, and background on Iraq before and after the advent of sanctions, I argue that the Times adhered closely to US government claims in crafting its news narratives. Although more than one million Iraqis have died preventable deaths as a result of the sanctions regime, the Times 's reporters and editorialists largely ignored the sanctions' part in the disaster and its civilian impact. Rather, the Times hewed closely to the US government's emphasis on alleged Iraqi defiance of the UN and the attendant narrative of monocausal Iraqi blame for the consequences of the sanctions. Moreover, the Times personalized US policy toward the nation of Iraq as a confrontation with one Iraqi, Saddam Hussein.