News From Iraq (Part II)

The More Things Change...

(Part one of this series looked at the reluctance of media sources to publish good news from Iraq. In this second installment we'll look at how the media covers our military victories there.)

Looking back today at some of my posts from Iraq I couldn't help but notice that the media coverage hasn't changed.

Remember Samarra? Probably not, as the news from that city hasn't had much international exposure lately. But last year Samarra was dubbed an "insurgent stronghold" - reporters thought they could safely claim it defined American failure in the face of the superior strength of the enemy:

Insurgents kept up their blood-soaked campaign against the U.S. presence in Iraq yesterday, staging a show of defiance in Samarra and striking twice with deadly force in Basra.

Dozens of masked gunmen loyal to Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi drove down the main street of the central city of Samarra carrying automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades in a show of strength.

The militants stopped some cars, asking the occupants to hand over music tapes in exchange for ones with recitations from the Muslim holy book, the Quran.

Samarra has been under insurgent control and a virtual "no-go" area for U.S. troops since May 30.

Meanwhile, a negotiated truce and weapons turn-in with Muqtada Sadr and his band of militants (remember them?) was virtually ignored.

After the US elections, as troops prepared to assault Fallujah, a NY Times reporter explained to the world that US Soldiers in Iraq had voted overwhelmingly for President Bush based on one issue: gay marriage. Then, as Soldiers and Marines began to roll in to Fallujah, the New York Times announced that Ramadi was the real problem.

And so on, and so on, and so on...

Apparently this sort of reporting "works" - it must increase sales, circulation, and ad revenue phenomenally, because it hasn't stopped. When Operation LIGHTNING was launched, the effort to clear the streets of Baghdad of terrorists, suicide bombers, and kidnappers garnered headlines declaring the superiority of the enemy. The Boston Globe's was typical of most US papers: Insurgents kill 38, wound dozens in attacks. Elsewhere headlines like Military sweeps in Baghdad fiercely resisted were about the best the Iraqi troops and their American allies could hope for.

When the government of Iraq announced that the Iraqi and US troops of Operation LIGHTNING had rounded up 900 "insurgents" in Baghdad the LA Times was quick to point out the real problems weren't in Baghdad:

As Iraqi commanders have deployed about 40,000 troops for a security crackdown in Baghdad, violence elsewhere has raised concern that other trouble spots have been left more vulnerable to insurgent attacks.

Assaults in Mosul during the last five days have claimed the lives of 11 people and wounded another 11. In the latest attack in the northern city, insurgents fired mortar rounds at a police station Monday, killing at least one civilian.

In nearby Tall Afar, Iraqi police shot and killed two insurgents who had attacked their compound with rocket-propelled grenades. On Sunday, five people were killed in a mortar attack in the city, including two women and two children, the U.S. military said.

Do you want to know how the NY and LA Times reported it?

Neither do I.

Kevin at Boots on the Ground is a young soldier on his second tour in Iraq:

Now that my days of Combat patrols and raids ect ect are over. I finally have time to write my personal feelings about Iraq. My first tour over here was definitely easier than this one. Of course, we were just doing raids most of the time and very little patrolling. So, I got plenty of sleep and ate pretty good. On average, we were working from 90-100 hour weeks this tour. I feel like I have aged much in my short time of being here.

I can definitely tell you from a military view, that the US and Iraqi forces are on the high ground in Iraq. The enemy has no real chance of taking power as long as we are here.

As long as the United States continues to stay in Iraq and help the Iraqi government, the terrorists and insurgents will lose. They are only capable of killing a few of us at a time and whenever they manage do organize a co-ordinated attack they are swiftly defeated. I know of the Prison attack that happened near us where 40 soldiers got injured, at least 30 of the attackers were killed. Zarqawi is a master at sending his men on suicide missions. They never succeed, despite the good press they get. Anytime hear reports of an Al-Jazeera news truck around, you know something bad is going to happen.

In part one we saw the contrasting results of opinion polls conducted in Iraq and America. It's worth noting a somewhat similar phenomenon in Army recruiting and retention. Retention rates for second term and career soldiers are well above normal, in active and Guard/Reserve units (especially those that deployed to Iraq) - people are re-enlisting. Meanwhile recruiting new soldiers is becoming increasingly difficult. But the same explanation can be applied to this observation as to the previous: those with first hand experience in the matter have a decidedly different outlook than those who only know what they read in the papers and see on TV.

(Part three is here.)