In the Observer, Jon Snow reviews Rageh Omaar new book, and is not happy. Omaar never quite managed to get the necessary view of Iraq war that other journalists – mentioning no names of course – achieved so effortlessly. The way the BBC used him, unfortunately:
came to envelop Omaar and perhaps deprive him of the chance to contribute a unique insight into one of the most alarming military adventures of the past three decades.
Take, for instance, Omaar’s childishly optimistic view of the capture of Saddam:
His concluding paragraph on the consequences of the capture of Saddam could have been lifted from a White House briefing paper: ‘It could also lead the way to regime change in a way that will benefit them, providing a framework for the emergence of an independent, sovereign and stable state.’
Oh dear. Older and wiser heads could have come up with something much more, well, Channel 4ish. Snow allows patronisingly that Omaar is “capable and telegenic”, but if he’d got out and about in Iraq a bit more, then:
[h]is viewers and readers would have learnt so much more about who it was we were about to kill.
Nicely put, Jon – the only broadcaster capable of chastising the BBC for it’s positive spin on the war.
Mick Hartley 
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