Video Player

The Arab Discourse and the International Role

Hafez Mirazi: April 25, 2005; Running Time: 1:22:32

About the Lecture

About the Lecture

Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based Arab news network, isn’t the Bush Administration’s favorite media outlet. But Hafez Mirazi states that his network’s motto is “both sides of the story,” and that it provides an indispensable service by sharing Arab perspectives with the entire world. Today, says Mirazi, there is widespread outrage at the U.S. occupation of Iraq. “If you don’t say, ‘We made a mistake and there were no WMDS (Weapons of Mass Destruction)’, but instead switch to saying ‘We did it for democracy, reform and the region,’ you’re giving ammunition to people who question anything coming out of Washington.” Another issue for Arabs is Washington’s fight against terrorism. Says Mirazi, “It doesn’t look nice that you want to battle in Arab backyards rather than your own.” Mirazi says that many Arabs believe the U.S. is occupying Iraq “because of a desire for hegemony on Arab oil,” and that the U.S. will next target Iran and Syria. He describes a scornful attitude toward the stated American agenda of establishing a democratic model in the Middle East. Arabs believe that the U.S. has instead created anarchy in Iraq by dissolving the Iraqi Army, which “helped in protection and law and order of the country.” They also view the U.S. shaping Iraq along sectarian lines -- the “Lebanonization of Iraq, by design and intention.” Why not, Arabs wonder, be pragmatic and “deal with political Islam” to stitch the country’s factions together? While the U.S. projects a success story about democracy, Arab media like Al-Jazeera describe “lessons about the severe limits of power….When it comes to the end game, you will have a problem controlling 10 miles of highway between the green zone in Baghdad and the airport.”

Lecture Details

Location: 1-190

About the Speaker

Hafez Mirazi

Washington Bureau Chief
Host of "Al-Jazeera Weekly"
Al-Jazeera Television

Before Al-Jazeera, Mirazi was correspondent for BBC Arabic/World Service in Washington and talk show host for the Arab News Network and Arab Network of America in Washington. He also held positions as writer, editor, and broadcaster for Voice of America in Washington.

Mirazi started his career as a radio journalist and broadcaster with Voice of the Arabs (Sawot Al-Arab) on Cairo Radio in Egypt in 1980. He holds an M.A. in World Politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington and a B.A. in Political Science from Cairo University. Mirazi has lived in Washington and covered US politics since 1983.

Hafez Mirazi

Al-Jazeera website

About the Host

About the Host

Department of Urban Studies and Planning

The Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) is a department within the School of Architecture and Planning at MIT. It is comprised of four specialization areas (also referred to as Program Groups): City Design and Development; Environmental Policy and Planning; Housing, Community and Economic Development; and the International Development Group. There are also three cross-cutting areas of study: Transportation Planning and Policy, Urban Information Systems (UIS), and Regional Planning.