Chaos or hope? Arab media eye Iraq vote
Coverage reflects confusion, diverse opinions of Iraqis
By Octavia Nasr
CNN
Editor's Note: With elections in Iraq coming up Sunday, Arabs in the Middle East and other parts of the world are hearing and reading widely different takes on the upcoming election and the skepticism, fear and hope surrounding it. Octavia Nasr is CNN's senior editor for Arab affairs.
 |  Satellite network Al-Jazeera shows early voting by Iraqi expatriates. |
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 CNN's Jonathan Mann explains how Iraqis will vote.
 Iraq's election won't be like those in most democracies.
 Iraq is preparing until the last minute for Sunday's voting.
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(CNN) -- "What Elections?" reads the headline in Al-Hayat, a widely popular Arab-language newspaper based in London, reflecting the diverse approach to the Iraqi elections in Arab media.
The paper has dedicated much of its reporting to Iraq in recent weeks, and as the election grew nearer, its tone seemed to become more intense and on the grim side.
According to Al-Hayat, Iraqis are confused about the election because they are getting mixed messages from candidates, politicians and religious leaders. At the same time they don't feel it is safe to go out and vote, and question how many people will risk being killed for the sake of the elections.
Mohammad Madhloom, an Iraqi writer and researcher, wrote, "Iraq on the eve of elections: Parties, cities and regions. Blood has covered Anbar province. The Ramadi electoral lists disappeared and with them the candidates and the voters."
In his column, Madhloom ridicules what he calls "these anonymous names on the ballot" -- the candidate lists identified only as "Ramadi" or "Anbar," leaving people with no idea who they would be voting for.
The picture that accompanies the article does not show a ballot, a voting station or anything relating to the coming elections. Instead there is a photo of a man dressed in military fatigues, his face shadowed by the traditional Arabic headdress, the kaffiye. He stands with confidence, a rocket launcher on his shoulder.
Is he an Iraqi soldier or an insurgent? A resistance fighter or a terrorist? The picture illustrates a confused Iraqi population and confused elections that Madhloom calls "an American exercise in talking the Democratic talk but not walking its walk."
And in an op-ed piece in Al-Hayat, Ghassan Charbel writes, "Iraq is paying the price for the shortcomings of all the different parties. ... Although the mistakes are costing the U.S. large sacrifices, the biggest losers so far are the Iraqis themselves."
He adds, "While it pains us to keep counting the Iraqi casualties, the fear is that one morning we wake up and find out that the slain body belongs to none other than Iraq."
Lebanon's Annahar newspaper chose a different angle for its coverage, under the headline "History repeats itself in Iraq, but this time the roles are reversed."
An editor writes, "Eighty years since Iraq's first-ever elections, the country is (again) divided between those who call for boycott and those who urge to go out and vote." The difference, the author says, is that Shiite clerics now support the elections while their Sunni counterparts don't -- just the opposite of what happened in 1924.
According to Arab historian Mohammad Kamel al-Amin, "Shiite areas were in rebels' hands back in 1924 in contrast to today, when Sunni areas are under siege from the insurgents."
The United Arab Emirates newspaper Al-Khaleej ran a picture of an Iraqi man looking at a campaign poster of Sunni leader Adnan Pachachi. Beside it was the headline "Suicide attacks race the elections. Bush is sad and wants to speed up the process. Death of 36 soldiers shocks the occupation."
If anyone is looking for good news -- or just positive news -- related to the coming Iraqi elections, there is not even a hint of it in this newspaper.
Al-Jazeera vs. Al-Arabiya
Arab television networks, meanwhile, have taken divergent approaches to the elections. From watching the two major players, Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, one gets the impression that the first sees a disaster about to befall Iraq, while the latter cannot say enough about the benefits of voting and how wonderful things will be come Sunday.
Al-Jazeera -- privately funded and based in Qatar -- is banned from reporting from Iraq by orders from the Iraqi Interim government. But this doesn't stop the channel from reporting on Iraq and hosting guests from inside and outside the country.
This week's program "The Iraqi Scene" was introduced with these words: "Politics and security get hot while the political fighting among candidates goes on. The interim government's security plan for the elections produces more car bombs, and opinions about the coming elections reach a point of no return."
Al-Jazeera's anchor introduces the program from Qatar by describing how "chaotic" things are in Iraq with candidates exchanging accusations and "hanging their dirty laundry on satellite channels for all to see and hear." His guests, two candidates for the National Assembly, use the airtime to promote their candidacy. The episode ends on the same tone it started on: Negative.
Across the Gulf, at Al-Arabiya, all is upbeat. Every few minutes comes a series of commercials aimed at promoting the future of Iraq and the benefits of voting. Dramatic voices speak passionately of a united Iraq, promising security and stability and focusing on the significance of taking the step to vote for one candidate or the other.
Al-Arabiya, which presents itself as a moderate alternative at Al-Jazeera, is owned by a brother-in-law of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd.
Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's ads have been playing for weeks on the network, much longer than any of the other candidates. He has also granted Al-Arabiya a series of exclusive sit-down interviews that aired leading up to this week.
There is no doubt that Al-Arabiya has positioned itself as the Iraqi elections campaigning headquarters in the Arab world. Their planned coverage is also highlighted through their own promotions peppered in between those of the candidates. One of them says: "January 30th, Iraq decides. Al-Arabiya brings you comprehensive and complete coverage." Then, over pictures of the candidates, the promotion says: "We'll bring you the new men of Iraq."
Al-Arabiya news executives told CNN that while they plan on having crews in every region of the country, they are aware of the dangers and they totally understand that their plans might get scrapped at the last minute. "For safety reasons, our cars won't be marked and our famous reporters won't be in the streets covering the story," said one executive.
On Al-Arabiya, one of the clips promoting Sunday's election addresses the dangers lurking in the streets of Iraq. It depicts an older man and his family being met by masked insurgents while on their way to vote. The clip suggests that looking the insurgents in the eye defiantly and going forward with voting makes the terrorists go away. This message doesn't seem to resonate with many in Iraq.
In reaction to the clip, one Arab network journalist stationed in Baghdad told CNN "I don't think so. The story isn't big enough for me to risk my life."
