Following the events of Sept. 11, the media published interviews with many well-known personalities including politicians and government officials. They were asked where they were at the time of the bombings in New York and Washington and what their initial reactions were.
Fantastic though some of those answers might seem now, the people interviewed gave what was surely an instantaneous and genuine first reaction to a horrible situation. The public, it seems, is always keen to know the reaction of famous people in such situations.
Watching television coverage of last week’s dramatic collapse of the Iraqi regime and the demolition of Saddam Hussein’s statues, I wished the Arab media had done a similar thing. I wished that our media had interviewed Arab leaders and senior officials about their initial reactions and what they felt as they watched the collapse of an Arab leader. Such interviews, in my opinion, would be of great interest to viewers and readers everywhere because people like to see their leaders expressing themselves at difficult times. It would have been a scoop for the reporter who managed to get a statement from an Arab official — since, as we know, these officials only talk openly to the American and European media.
The fall of Saddam’s regime was anticipated but what was not expected was the way in which the government, the armed forces and central administration so completely and so quickly collapsed. It is important to know how other officials felt about those events.
I am very much afraid that none of what I have suggested could possibly happen. Arab officials are very discreet when it comes to talking to the local press. They are known to be uncooperative with Arab media but dearly love to be interviewed by foreigners. The information they provide to the foreign media and the frankness with which they talk are conspicuously absent when they speak to their own local press. Nevertheless, let us not give up for miracles do happen. In the meantime, we can do no more than wait and anticipate — continuing the two greatest achievements in modern Arab history.
Arab News From the Local Press 13 April 2003
