With the passing of 18 months since the supposed end of the war in Iraq we are led to believe that law and civilised order has been restored, but this is very defiantly not the case, the British public are, of course, aware of this but are told something different. This situation is highlighted well with the comment: “Mr Blair always makes it sound like Burton on Trent over there. But do you know what? He’s lying”. This is a powerful statement, which reflects the state of affairs, capitalisation of this point is used to draw the attention of the reader.
With the use of proper nouns, such as ‘Apache gunships, Hellfire missiles, Special Forces, Hercules, Tristar, the military aspect of the report is brought into context. The reality of what is occurring in Iraq is combined with these by mention of Iraqi ‘insurgents’ who ‘lie in wait with rocket propelled grenades and anti-aircraft missiles, the war in Iraq is not over as it has turned to guerrilla warfare. At the same time the political background is also put into context in the same way, by mention of such nouns as Baghdad, Mr Blair, Gordon Brown, Mr Bush, Ramadan, Muslim. Comparison is made to previous conflicts by mention of Vietnam, another war of insurgency. At this point comparison can also be made of another journalists work in a similar field. John Pilger’s report ‘Dreamland’, describing that journalist’s arrival in Saigon during the conflict in Vietnam in 1966, makes a good parallel with Clarkson’s description of his arrival in Baghdad. Again, the use of proper nouns gives context to the report, Caravelle, Chicago, Chevy’s, Detroit, Ford, and Pontiac combine with Saigon, Vietnamese, Tan Son Nhut and Renault and Colonial piles to give an image of a country that has struggled to free itself from its colonial past only to be immersed in a ‘war’ which has become Americanised. The title, Dreamland, also has a double meaning. The Vietnamese that have succumbed to the dream of America’s ‘Coca-cola’ society and capitalist prosperity, dream of becoming a part of the American ‘dream’, whilst the American military dream that they are winning. The reality is that America is caught up in an un-winnable conflict that challenges not only its military might but also its sociological ideals.
Both journalists’ use verbs to add action to their reports, Clarkson describes the flight path into Baghdad as a ‘plummet path’ rather than a gentle decent and of Apache gunships ready to ‘atomise’ anyone who fancies taking a ‘pot-shot’. Pilger describes the ‘whining of fixed wing aircraft’ and the ‘thudding syncopation of helicopters’. Although humour is also used by Pilger it is a lot more subtle than Clarkson’s delivery, this is not just a reflection of Pilger’s more serious approach but also of the fact that the Vietnamese conflict was of a more harrowing degree to the situation in Iraq: “…his small, shaven head grunted serenely and vomited in my lap without waking”. This compares well with Clarkson’s more open humorous style, i.e.: “…the pilot set the flight controls to ‘tactical’”, or: “…I’d made a special playlist on my war-pod”. Clarkson’s arrival in Baghdad constitutes the most dramatic part of his report; after all, this kind of journalism is not within his normal sphere. It is in this part of his report that most of the drama takes place. The reports fluctuation between humour and deadly seriousness is well balanced. The description realism of the events is built with compound words, such as “smoke trails of incoming ordinance”, “engine screaming”, supported by descriptions of a “rush” of negative g force and “face bending g through the airframe”. The use of the simile: “wardrobe falling from the top of a tower block” as the Hercules “hurtles” towards its landing, together with colloquial lexis such as “oh man what a rush” help to build the tension of the moment. Compare these with Pilger’s arrival in Saigon’s “metallic jungle” in the “flaking Caravelle” to an airport outside of which “fat Fords” with their Vietnamese drivers barely visible and the two very different styles of journalism can be seen to follow at least some of the same formula.
Both conflicts were dominated by American involvement; this is most evident in Vietnam but perhaps not so obvious with Iraq. Perhaps to emphasise this point Clarkson’s report is, as previously mentioned, littered with connotations to America, a lot of which derogatory in response to the understanding that the United Kingdom was dragged into involvement in Iraq by the U.S., this is substantiated by such statements as: “Knuckle-dragging one eyed swamp-man from Buttsville, Iowa” or “Turbine powered gas (Americanisation of the word fuel) hogs” as well as the more obvious references to things that are immediately identifiable with America, items, such as Coca-cola or Marlboro reds. Attention is also drawn to the poor state of the military equipment or the quality of the personnel with comments such as: “…the tannoy system had obviously been salvaged from one of the railway stations Beeching closed down in 1963” and “…an adenoidal teenager” who “…said I didn’t have a pass, and then failed to do anything about it”.
Pilger is no less derogatory over the handling of the situation in Vietnam, with references to the Vietnamese as “gookes, slopes and dinks” and the ridiculousness of the MACV plastic relief map with its coloured references to, supposedly, controlled areas. Along with the total lack of understanding of the indigenous culture, such as the old man forced to leave his family shrine as the area had been declared a “free fire zone”. This is combined with emotive context such as the description of the child burnt by Napalm to illustrate the totally indiscriminate way in which the war is being fought and emphasise the hopelessness of the situation: “Vietnam is a war, not a country”. Clarkson’s dramatic style of writing allows for the inclusion of some similes that are reflection of the writer’s character: ‘It was like sitting in the top right oven of an Aga’, describing the climate inside an AFV. Pilger has a much more sobering style and as a consequence there are no comparable similes in his text but his use of metaphor can be most poignant: ‘We can’t make him save his own ass,’ being both metaphorical and physical. This combines with deliberate simplification, such as his description of how the KIA bureau performs its tasks, to “bring the report home” in the readers mind.
Clarkson’s dynamism and Pilger’s sober approach seem to be absolutely correct to the relevant situations to which they are related, and in that sense they have worked well. Clarkson does not make the ideal war correspondent, but manages to still succeed because he makes his report interesting to read, which is precisely what needs to be achieved, Pilger’s report pulls on the mind and promotes deep thought, therefore what is being reported transfers to the reader. The outcome is that, although these are two differing styles of journalism, both styles achieve their aim by making the reports readable and interesting, the whole point of journalism is in this way achieved.