The Fisk

Phil Hendren: Independent, yet biased

Where would we be without a newspaper like the Independent? The paper that is the official home to Robert Fisk, the man who became a verb? This morning they have outdone even themselves with what must surely be a candidate for "Deliberately misleading headline of the Month". On page 20, blazoned across the top of the page readers are presented with the following: "US troops surge into Iraq as death tool mounts".

It's an interesting juxtaposition to be sure, accompanied by a photo of a burning bus. What inference is the reader to make from such a headline? Well, burning bus, deaths increasing, US troops "surge" in. It doesn't take a genius to work out what is being implied by the headline. The casual reader is left under no illusion.

And yet, a quick look at the article itself and you discover that the "death toll" being referred to is in fact that of US soldiers, and the "surge" refers merely to increasing numbers, rather than sudden violent action of movement.

Shane Greer: It's the Americans (that are) stupid

This is the first of a series of five fisks I'm doing of recent frontpages of The Independent newspaper.

At first it might appear that the Independent is simply making another tiresome attack against one of its favourite targets, President Bush. But if one lifts the veil of characteristic simplicity of the front page, an altogether more worrisome message is revealed. That message is one of rampant anti-Americanism, along with a more subtle – but no less important – air of anti-western sentiment.

However at a time when our very existence, our freedom, liberty, and democracy – the values we originally fought for and rescued from potential fascist domination – are under attack from Islamofascists, it is humbly submitted that we should rejoice in the similarities we share with our American cousins, rather than hammer wedges between our subtle differences.

The Iraq war may not be popular, but it started with the best of intentions; a perceived threat (valid or not) which had to be dealt with. The time for questioning the validity of the war has long since passed; instead our efforts should be expended on determining the best way to bring the war to its conclusion. We need to define the parameters of victory, and establish the most efficacious way of delivering that victory.