Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Iraq Article

So, Here is the link to my article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7337873.stm

Basically, this article discusses the death of a member of the British special forces two weeks ago in Iraq. The article discusses the situation, in which two bomb makers had began making bombs across the street from the police chief and the Iraqi police turned a blind eye. This in turn raised questions about the integrity of the Iraqi police, and also forced involvement of U.S. and British forces. The article then goes on to detail how the soldiers were forced to kill several women and children along those fighting them, after the death of one of their comrades in an ambush. The article finally analyzes the fighting practices of these men from a variety of sources, and also claims that in ridding Iraq of these two militant men, they may have created a much bigger problem.

This article is a departure for the BBC from normally unbiased reporting. There are many times in which the authors opinion clearly shines through the bare facts. The author begins by quoting many "lies" by the ministry of defense, and explains how, pending further investigation by a third party, the real facts emerged. After this seemingly innocent blow to to the government, the author then continues to give the majority of the quotes to angry onlookers and a far smaller portion to British authorities. Furthermore, by describiing the extent of the devestation caused by British forces, these forces seem to be far worse than that which they are combating. The author does end the article with a praise quote to the actions of the soldiers which does help to balance the bias shown throughout the rest of the article.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is interesting that the article you wrote about seems to be very controversial. I also like how the story focuses on the British soldiers and government. Usually, we tend to only focus on matters pertaining to the U.S. Your summary is concise and flows well. It is also good that you end it by talking about what might happen in the future. Your analysis is also pretty good. You make claims and support them with evidence from the text.

Trey said...

Your summary and rhetorical analysis work well together and are easy to understand, even had I not read the article.

Try using a few more quotes from the article within your analysis to further support the point your are trying to make. Also, I found it interesting that you referred to BBC as a normally unbiased news source. I don't necessarily agree or disagree, but I always think it is interesting to see which news sources are considered most credible.

Manda said...

You summarize the article well and make valid conclusions, but I think I had trouble understanding what your final argument or analysis was. The only suggestion I have beyond giving your analysis a more defined purpose is adding one or two more quotes from the article that support your thoughts.