Skip to main content

Trending

  • Ireland
  • Antisemitism
  • Pizzagate

Social Media Menu

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Utility Navigation

  • Take Action
  • Search
  • Donate

Media Matters for America

Main navigation

  • News & Analysis
  • Research & Studies
  • Audio & Video
  • Archives

Media Matters for America

  • Nav
  • Search

Main navigation

  • News & Analysis
  • Research & Studies
  • Audio & Video
  • Archives

Trending

  • Ireland
  • Antisemitism
  • Pizzagate

Utility Navigation

  • Take Action
  • Search
  • Donate

Social Media Menu

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Lines from "The Afghanistan Papers" published by The Washington Post
Credit: Ceci Freed / Media Matters | Boston Public Library via Creative Commons

Revelations from the Afghanistan Papers underscore the need for a media skepticism on Iran

Written by Parker Molloy

Published 01/03/20 12:39 PM EST

Just last month, The Washington Post published investigative reporter Craig Whitlock’s bombshell report exposing dark truths about the war in Afghanistan. The six-part series offered a blistering look at the disparities between what the U.S government knew to be true and what it told the public. This evidence -- along with the long history of the government lying to justify armed conflict -- should give journalists pause when considering how they cover escalating tensions with Iran.

“U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable,” Whitlock wrote in the project’s opening, based on government documents with interviews of “more than 400 insiders.”

“If the American people knew the magnitude of this dysfunction … 2,400 lives lost. Who will say this was in vain?” Ret. U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, the White House war czar for Afghanistan between 2007 and 2013, is quoted as saying in one of the documents Whitlock obtained. 

“Several of those interviewed described explicit and sustained efforts by the U.S. government to deliberately mislead the public, Whitlock wrote. “They said it was common at military headquarters in Kabul -- and at the White House -- to distort statistics to make it appear the United States was winning the war when that was not the case.”

As Media Matters reported at the time, network nightly news broadcasts largely ignored Whitlock’s report. Neither ABC’s World News Tonight nor NBC’s Nightly News covered the story in the days after it broke, while CBS Evening News devoted a single segment to it on December 9. Now, less than a month removed from the publication of concrete evidence that the U.S. government has been lying to the American people about an ongoing $2 trillion war that’s taken the lives of tens of thousands of Afghan civilians and more than 2,400 U.S. service members, we appear to be on the brink of another nebulously defined armed conflict, this time with Iran.

As news organizations cover this unfolding event, the public can only hope that publishers and broadcasters have learned to treat the government’s messaging and justification with due skepticism. Unfortunately, there's already cause for concern.

The Latest

  1. Laura Ingraham claims warnings of Donald Trump’s extremism are attempts to inspire assassination attempts

    Video & Audio 12/01/23 8:00 PM EST

  2. Fox News guest: “Let's not talk about the Gazans as poor innocent victims”

    Video & Audio 12/01/23 7:42 PM EST

  3. Georgia election case co-defendant uses QAnon channel to attack prosecutor and fundraise for legal defense fund

    Article 12/01/23 2:46 PM EST

  4. Prominent pro-Trump pundits are aligning to stop “poisonous” Nikki Haley from surging against Trump

    Article 12/01/23 2:46 PM EST

  5. Right-wing media complain that toddler was released by Hamas due to her family’s connections to Biden

    Research/Study 12/01/23 12:15 PM EST

Pagination

  • Current page 1
  • …
  • Next page ››

In This Article

  • The Washington Post

    The-Washington-Post-MMFA-Tag.png
  • War in Afghanistan

    War in Afghanistan
  • U.S. – Iran relations

    US Iran tag image

Related

  1. Fox continues longstanding push for war against Iran

    Research/Study 11/17/23 1:19 PM EST

  2. Trump calls his political enemies “vermin,” to muted national news coverage

    Article 11/13/23 1:37 PM EST

  3. Mainstream media ignores new Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s history of anti-LGBTQ extremism

    Article 10/25/23 2:41 PM EDT

Media Matters for America

Sign up for email updates

Footer menu

  • About
  • Contact
  • Corrections
  • Submissions
  • Jobs
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

Social Media Menu

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

© 2023 Media Matters for America