Saturday, February 23, 2008

The Beeb Spins Turkey in Iraq

The Iraqi foreign minister has responded to the deployment of Turkish troops into Iraqi Kurdistan (see yesterday's post), and the BBC's spin is all too clear. His actual comments, standing alone, really don't seem to justify the tone of tension expressed in the piece as a whole. Only one comment even comes close to qualifying as a "warning":
"But if it goes on, I think it could destabilise the region, because really one mistake could lead to further escalation."
Rather, he seems to be stating the blatantly obvious -- we didn't approve this, we want it to end soon, please don't blow up more than you need to. But a reader skimming the article, or just seeing the headline, could be forgiven for concluding that the situation was escalating.

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