Below are a few key graphs:
Right now, all the talk in DC is whether there has been any progress in Iraq. No one can wait till September. They need to know now. Primarily, it appears, because they need to kill the war for their own domestic political reasons before it kills them. Most people, of course, already have the answer they want.
But how come, if this is the pressing issue of the day, we’ve seen no serious effort whatsoever among our leading news organizations to tell us or our political leaders what is actually happening?
....
Where is the comprehensive look at the execution of George Bush’s counterinsurgency strategy, this thing that everyone keeps disparaging?
....
Maybe I’m missing something. Maybe they hid it somewhere else. Maybe it’s tucked in with all the other award-winning series in some special section.
The AP doesn’t offer a simple link to a comprehensive list....
But the AP, as the primary source of international news for most American newspapers, deserves a closer look at its efforts on the ground in Iraq. The AP probably shapes more readers’ views about what is happening in Iraq than any other organization, and its performance there remains abysmal.
Here’s one from the AP yesterday about a contested village north of Baquba. The story is [misleadingly] all about failure....
The AP elsewhere questions whether the focus on al-Qaeda is some kind of propaganda ploy designed to bolster the war in Iraq back home. That’s not what Iraqis are telling Yon. Hey, check this out: Yon took a photo of the AP’s Robert H. Reid in Baquba, there with every opportunity to see what Yon sees and speak to the ones he speaks to. But what does Reid report about al-Qaeda in Iraq?
Why failure of course!
And where do we find any objective, reality based information that is critical to our understanding of what is at stake there? Take a guess;
The lede tells us to settle in for another Bush strategy failure. The key quote, the one that might help influence perceptions, the one that tells us this is a problem that might be successfully addressed by Congress, is left for last:“A lesson learned is … do not draw down too quickly when we think there’s a glimmer of success,” Brig. Gen. Dana Pittard, a former battalion commander in Diyala, told reporters this week.
Pittard, who heads the day-to-day effort to train Iraqi security forces, estimated that it will take “a couple of years” before the Iraqis are ready to take full control of their own security.
So, the way to ensure American lives are not wasted is to show some commitment to people who are relying on us. One must be very patient and willing to slog through a lot of Bush-bashing to learn that.
....
So please let me know if you find it: An actual, meaningful, in-depth look at the execution of the counter-insurgency strategy in Iraq by someone who has taken the time to understand what its goals and methods are, and isn’t just interested in kicking the crap out of it from a distance. An effort to understand and report fairly on what may be the last chance to prevent a bloody humanitarian disaster on a scale not seen since Cambodia, quick, before the opportunity is thrown away....
Do the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Associated Press really need someone like me to tell them how to report on what’s happening in Iraq? With cadres of news editors and phalanxes of reporters at their disposal, on the biggest story of our time they can’t figure out how to do more than the most superficial and distorted reporting. That’s pretty embarrassing....
So the question is, are these leading news organizations lazy, or stupid, or is it that they just don’t want to know?
Please read it all (and follow his links too).
No comments:
Post a Comment