Mounting Concerns in Iraq: Street-to-Street Fighting, Humanitarian Distress, More Military and Civilian Casualties

In addition to mapping out a war strategy, the Bush administration and the coalition face significant, related challenges: concerns over military and civilian deaths and the humanitarian situation. Several United Nations agencies are preparing what could become the largest relief effort in history.

A panel of experts will address these issues as well as worldwide reaction to a war being fought before a global television audience. News organizations have grappled with questions of how certain aspects of the war should be covered, including the video of American prisoners of war. Brookings scholar Stephen Hess, a expert on the media, will assess the current debate over television coverage, including the issue of “embedded” reporters.

In addition to an analysis of this week’s developments by Iraq expert Kenneth Pollack, Shibley Telhami, the author of a recent study of Arab attitudes toward U.S. engagement in Iraq, will gauge reaction from the Arab world, and Roberta Cohen, an expert on humanitarian and refugee issues, will assess the current situation.