Amir Taheri makes some important points about the troubles that western journalists have in covering Iraq. They don't know the language and they must rely on interpreters whose own biases they have no way of verifying.
And...
Many of the interpreters are former Baathist officials who have a stake in portraying Iraqi hatred of the coalition. Others are just out for a buck and are happy to spin stories if it gets them hired again and again as interpreters. It's often too violent and dangerous to go into some areas so the reporters have to rely on such second-hand reports that they can't verify themselves as they would in the United States.
As Taheri predicts, one day historians will have a more complete picture of what has been going on in Iraq outside of the areas of violence and we will be able to judge how well the media has operated under the limitations of violence and language barriers. And the ability of the media to fairly cover a war as it occurs will be as much in question here as it was in 1898 in the Spanish-American War.
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