[매거진N 특별기고] 중동지역 전쟁 미디어 책임 크다
‘아시아엔’ 해외 필진 기고문 한글요약본과 원문을 게재합니다. [아시아엔=아시라프 달리 쿠웨이트 <알아라비> 매거진 에디터] 분쟁지역 전문기자와 역사가들은 매일 중동이 마주하고 있는 상황에 혼란을 겪고 있다. 아랍국가들은 이웃 국가와 싸우고, 무슬림들은 서로에게 총부리를 겨눈다. 기독교인은 기독교인들을 살해했던 이들을 돕는다. 또한 역사적으로 서로 적대시했던 이들이 힘을 합쳐 협력하고 있다. 이미 시작된 것과 다름 없는 제3차 세계대전이 진행 중인 땅, 중동의 슬픈 현실이다.
제1차, 2차 세계대전의 경우, 전쟁 발발의 주요 원인, 전쟁기간 및 시기 등이 분명했다. 하지만 3차대전은 다르다. 전쟁 발발 시점을 규정하기 어려울 뿐만 아니라, 어떻게 흘러갈지 예측도 힘들다. 3차대전이 일어난 지난 4년 동안 중동에선 민간인을 포함해 수백만명이 희생됐다. 또한 전쟁통에 난민이 된 노인과 아동 수백만명이 중동 및 여타 지역에서 떠돌고 있다. 자살테러나 전쟁에 가담하고 있는 여성과 아동들도 수백명에 이른다. 잔혹한 전쟁 장면을 무기삼아 대중을 현혹시키는 집단도 생겼다. 바로 ‘미디어 권력’이다. 페이스북, 트위터 등 소셜미디어의 발전으로 시민들은 시시각각 발생하는 분쟁들을 모니터를 통해 볼 수 있게 됐다. 그 장면들이 거짓이든 진실이든 상관없다. 미디어는 처참한 전쟁을 실시간으로 전파하고 있다. 이집트군이 IS(다에쉬·Daesh)의 리비아 훈련캠프에 붙잡혔을 당시, <알자지라>는 구타로 살해당한 어린이 3명의 영상을 보도했다. 하지만 알지지라의 기사가 오보로 밝혀진 지 불과 몇 분 후, 이 사진을 웹사이트에 인용보도했던 <카타르 TV>도 해당기사를 삭제했다. <카타르 TV>가 진위여부를 확인하지 않은 채 그대로 인용한 것이다. 카타르 측은 이집트 정부를 비난하기 위해 사실확인이 되지 않은 이슈들을 보도하곤 했다. 진실을 보도해야할 언론이 자극적인 이슈들로 대중의 판단을 흐트려놓고 있는 것이다. 카타르, 터키, 미국 세 나라는 시리아 반군을 지지하고 있다. 하지만 아이러니하게도 이들은 리비아 정부를 반대하는 이슬람 급진주의자들도 돕고 있다. 현재 이 국가들은 IS에 맞서 싸우는 것처럼 보이지만, 실제로 이들이 정말로 테러리스트들과 싸울 마음인지 누구도 알 수 없다. IS 지원세력들이 호전적인 독재정권으로 힘을 키우고 신무기와 화학무기들이 난무하는 승자 없는 전쟁이 계속되는 한, 3차대전은 오랫동안 지속될 것이다. The Endless World War III War correspondents and history analysts are confused of the daily scenes they are facing in the Middle East; Arabs are fighting their Arab neighbors, Muslims are battling against Islamists, Christians are helping the killers of Christians, and old enemies are flocking together with their own historic opponents. The Holy Lands of all prophets are suffering under the slogans of all religions. This is no longer the Middle East; this is the land of World War III. A brief history of World War I tells us that in late June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Bosnia. An escalation of threats and mobilization orders followed the incident, leading by mid-August to the outbreak of the first global war, which pitted the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire against the Allied Powers of Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy and Japan. World War I ended with the defeat of the Central Powers in November 1918, leaving more than 9 million soldiers killed and 21 million more wounded. World War II gathered the Axis nations, including Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Imperial Japan and their smaller allies, against the Allied nations, led by Britain, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America. The casualties in World War II make it the most destructive one in all of history that may have totaled 50 million service personnel and civilians killed. Putting these numbers together, nations suffering the highest losses, military and civilian, were: USSR, 42,000,000; Germany, 9,000,000; China, 4,000,000; and Japan, 3,000,000. For both World War I and II, it was easy to determine the reason, the date, and duration of battles. It was even easier to predict their ends in the midst of fighting. The defeat of the Central Powers and Axis nations in both wars meant the end. But, this is not the case for World War III. First, no one can mark the beginning of this multi-land war. Was it lit by the Arab Spring uprisings that moved people, then armies, in Tunisia, Libya, Syria and Egypt? Was it marked by the air raids over Libyan towns to topple Gadhafi’s regime, shared by Qatar and US troops? Was it sparked by the birth of ISIS in Syria and Iraq, then ISIL in Libya? Did it start by the participation of Jordanian fighters, along with the USA, UAE and many other allies? Or, finally, did it begin with the Egyptian air strike against the camps of ISL in Libya, in a quick response to the slaughtering of 21 Egyptian Christians, who were seen by the whole word via the video captured and released by ISIL? But the question is no longer about when it started, but rather, what scenario it will follow. For the last four years, a period longer than the duration of a world war, millions of victims have already been spread over the Middle East’s map. There are millions of dead: both soldiers and civilians. There are millions of old and young refugees in the region and abroad. There are millions of women and children involved in suicide bombings and other battles. And there is an enormous amount of destructed infrastructure. The end of all these sufferings is not seen in the near future. way from all these bloody scenes is a more destructive weapon misused by all powers to mislead the people. It is the media power. Now, with Facebook, Twitter and other social media paths, you cannot miss a single scene of the war. If you are avoiding watching the ugly war scene, committed by the barbarians with Islamic masks, you will find such images and videos repeated again and again, all the time. The storage power of the Internet is used to give deadly scenes, both fake and true, a new life every minute. Media misleading the people When Egyptian fighters struck the training camp of radical Islamists in Libya, known now by the name “Daesh,” Al-Jazeera aired a scene of three children’s bodies, saying they were killed by the strike. A few minutes later, they removed the photo from the website of the Qatari TV Channel, as their lie was discovered when readers brought up the same photo of the three children, killed a few months ago, exposing the misleading news telecasted by Al-Jazeera. This was just a single report of many the Qatari TV Channel uses to attack the governments in the region. Even Al-Jazeera announced that the Gulf Cooperation Council had supported Qatar in its latest war of words with Egypt. Instead, in his latest statement, GCC Secretary-general Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani has firmly thrown the Gulf bloc’s support behind Egypt. Early Thursday, Qatar announced it was recalling its ambassador to Cairo “for consultations” over remarks made by Egypt’s delegate to the Arab League, Tariq Adel. Qatar had expressed reservations about a joint Arab League communique that welcomed Egypt’s retaliatory air strikes in Libya after ISIL fighters in the North African country executed 21 Egyptian Christians. Al Zayani, in a statement that made no mention of Qatar, said: “The GCC countries also support all military actions taken by Egypt against terrorist groups in Libya, following the barbaric act carried out by the Daesh terrorist group.” Qatar, Turkey and the USA were in the same team to support and weapon Islamic militants in Syria against Al-Assad’s regime. But, together they also helped the radical Islamists against the government in Libya. Now, they pretend they are against ISIS and ISIL, but this cannot be proven if they continue their wars against Egyptian and other efforts to fight those terrorists. Finding a solid, final and right situation could take a long time, and so could World War III, as it is fought in many of the Middle Eastern countries, and controlled by other powers abroad. The war will go on longer, as supporters of ISIS and ISIL may grow to fight dictatorships, and as many new technological and chemical weapons are feeding the mad battles with no victories.