Suchergebnisse

Abstract
This article, drawing on party literature and author interviews, surveys the intellectual trajectory and ideological critique of the Al-Menbar, which started as a dissatisfied group within the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP) during the 1980s and subsequently emerged as a break-away faction. The Al-Menbar critique of the ICP, which it viewed as intellectually and operationally stagnant, covered the central issues of Iraqi politics, including: a discussion of the collapse of the progressive 'National Front' in 1979 and the consequential repression of the ICP by the Ba'th; the accelerating Iran–Iraq war; the nature of the 'Kurdish question' within Iraqi communist politics; and the role of the Iraqi revolutionary movement within the context of Arab politics. Finally, this article assesses the legacy of the short lifespan of Al-Menbar within the Iraqi revolutionary movement in particular, and Iraqi politics generally.

The rise and fall of Iraqi liberalism: a review article

Al-Hizb al-Watan al-Taqaddum f al-Irq f al-Ahd al-Jumhr al-Awwal, dil Taq Abd-al-Baldw, (2000) Baghdad: al-Husm Lil-Tibah, 206 pp., pbk.
Trkh al-Hizb al-Watan al-Dmuqrt wa Muhkamt al-Jdirj
f al-Wathiq al-Irqiyyah al-Sirriyyah 19461958, dil Taq Abd-al-Baldw, (2004) Baghdad, 128 pp., pbk.
Judhr al-Taiyyr al-Dmuqrt f al-Irq: Qirah f Afkr Husain Jaml Hal Inqat.aa Nasl al-Lbrliyyah al-Irqiyyah, Abd-ul-Husain Shabn, (2007) Beirut: Bsn,
304 pp., pbk.

This article describes how American mass media's acquiescence to state propaganda, most glaring in the American campaign to invade Iraq, affected Canadian media coverage in the build-up to war. While the Canadian government ultimately opted-out of the American (mis)adventure in Iraq, this could not have been predicted by the press coverage of Canada's major dailies. Canadian press coverage in the build-up to the invasion of Iraq was similar, if not in degree then certainly in kind, to the coverage seen in their American equivalents. Wholly uncritical and deferential to state propaganda, the Canadian press failed to challenge the dubious claims of the Bush administration and in this failure defaulted in its responsibility to inform the public and provide alternative opinions. The transformation of the Canadian media is in large part attributable to the concentration of media ownership, and is part of an ongoing transformation of Canada's political function, from independent international actor to junior adjunct of the United States. In this presentation, some preliminary comments are made as to the relationship between media coverage of Iraq and Canadian public opinion.