Echoes of Iraq: Mainstream media ‘deja vu’ over framing of the war on Iran

Echoes of Iraq: Mainstream media ‘deja vu’ over framing of the war on Iran Submitted by Fleur Hargreaves on Fri, 03/13/2026 - 10:12 Media analysis indicates parallels between headlines from Iraq war to current response to US and Israeli bombardment of Iran British newspaper headlines in the aftermath of the Israeli-US attack on Iran (Paul Ellis/AFP) Off “Why we should go to war”, ran the headline of a Guardian article in February 2003 by the commentator Julie Burchill. In it, she explained to the Guardian’s liberal readers why a pro-war attitude in the run-up to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s invasion of Iraq should be welcomed. “If you really think it's better for more people to die over decades under a tyrannical regime than for fewer people to die during a brief attack by an outside power, you're really weird and nationalistic and not any sort of socialist that I recognise,” wrote Burchill.