The Media Ignore Progress, Yet Again
June 2, 2008 – 9:31 amIn May, 19 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq. This marks the lowest monthly death toll of U.S. troops since the war began in 2003. While this by no means erases the meaning of the individuals’ lives lost, it does show that there have been improvements in the war-torn country. So, with death rates declining and with progress more than immanent, why have the U.S. media been so reluctant to cover Iraq? The Washington Post’s editorial board weighs in:
This lag in news coverage is intriguing, considering the overall progress that has been made. It’s ironic that the only time the media are harping on Iraq is when death and destruction have taken center stage. Why is it that when progress is made, the media decide to turn away? What in this world could possibly be more newsworthy than the war that liberals have continuously berated actually taking a turn for the better?
Now, don’t get me wrong. The war was mismanaged, which surely called for anger and responsiveness on behalf of the American people. But at a time when positive advances are being made, everyone should be standing behind the mission and recognizing the importance of completing it. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case.
We’ve reached an odd crossroads in America. Today, the defeatists seem to have an upper hand, as their negativity has guided the nation into a mentality that continues to trick citizens into believing that this war is lost. Unfortunately for the defeatists, recent developments show that the U.S. is actually winning in Iraq.
So, while the media fail to properly report the positives, we’re forced to listen to Barack Obama and his enthusiasts devilishly try to appeal to a war-weary nation as they call for complete abandonment of a war that might actually be successful. What will Obama say once he realizes that the U.S. might actually win the mission? And wouldn’t it help if the media would do their job and actually report on the positive strides that have been made?
I’m not the first person to complain about this. Conservative angst has existed since the beginning of the surge, as commentators have relentlessly made the case that the media have ignored the positive results that emerged from the troop surge.
"Iraq passed a turning point last fall when the U.S. counterinsurgency campaign launched in early 2007 produced a dramatic drop in violence and quelled the incipient sectarian war between Sunnis and Shiites." - The Washington Post
Perhaps Hot Air says it best:
Let’s hope that the defeatists don’t win. Their ideology is counterproductive and could lead the U.S. to prematurely pull out of a volatile region before getting the job done. We don’t need leaders making false promises; what we need is to complete our pledge to the Iraqi people, while remaining realistic about the challenges ahead. While the mission may not be easy, abandoning Iraq should be America’s last resort.
7 Responses to “The Media Ignore Progress, Yet Again”
Hasn’t Billy preached to us before, in very similar words, about the “defeatism” of those who have opposed this war, which, by the way, was instigated on false premises by criminals who have defrauded the government and the people of this nation?
Our supine media has been cravenly compliant with the imperial pretensions of an administration run by infantile narcissists who every day assert a wider scope of their powers and every week draw tighter an odorous curtain of secrecy about the affairs of the executive.
The machinations of the Bush/Blair co-op to take the U.S. and the U.K. to war in Iraq is a crime against our peoples.
Their ill-conceived and worse-prosecuted war has caused the unnecessary deaths of thousands of our soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis.
This is a crime against humanity.
Impeach!
By Vince Williams on Jun 2, 2008
Billy’s post made me gag.
Once again, he’s shoveling more shit in his attempt to “show us the truth.”
The truth? The truth is this misbegotten war was lost when our criminal, cowboy president rode into town with six-guns blazing, determined to show the world who’s boss.
“The media fail to properly report the positives.” There ARE no freakin’ positives!
People continue to die each day — ours as well as theirs. And we continue to bleed billions of dollars each month in pursuit of the fantasy of a united Iraq.
Calling for an end to this madness isn’t defeatist at all; it’s being realistic. And, I would add, profoundly patriotic.
In contrast, you and your fellow war-mongers continue to live in a fantasy world of WMDs and “victory” that is always just another few months away.
I wouldn’t mind so much if you were the only ones who had to pay for this criminal delusion, but you’ve stuck the rest of us with this bill.
Outrageous!
By Steve Levine on Jun 2, 2008
The most ironic part is that Billy is citing the very liberal Washington Post editorial board as evidence of his thesis.
Ask John McCain what a victory in Iraq looks like. Even he, one of this war’s most ardent supporters, can’t articulate it effectively.
By Joshua Rosenstock on Jun 2, 2008
One of the reasons I believe in an organizing intelligence that pervades the universe is I can’t accept a cosmos empty of retributive justice for the evil deeds of morally corrupt leaders— leaders who send young people off to die in a phony war.
The smirking insolence of Bush, the sneering arrogance of Cheney, and the overweening pride of the departed Rumsfeld coalesced into a perfectly diabolical trinity of power-drunk thugs who managed their little adventure with reckless incompetence.
I fondly envision the playful sport that the satyrs of Hades would have with them if Lucifer thought they should get off so lightly as to burn in Hell.
More likely, he’d throw them in a black hole, sensate, where they might enjoy the singular delight of being compressed to less than the thickness of an atom.
Personally, I think that would be too good for them.
By Vince Williams on Jun 2, 2008
“The smirking insolence of Bush, the sneering arrogance of Cheney, and the overweening pride of the departed Rumsfeld coalesced into a perfectly diabolical trinity of power-drunk thugs who managed their little adventure with reckless incompetence.”
Super job, Vince. I wish I’d written that!
By Steve Levine on Jun 3, 2008
@ “We don’t need leaders making false promises; what we need is to complete our pledge to the Iraqi people…”
How hollow these words would ring in the ears of the Iraqi man on the street who witnessed his country’s devastation.
It’s likely that he had family and friends who were killed by one faction or another. His shop and home may have been destroyed.
He sees his country’s infrastructure still in ruins as basic services are only slowly restored over years.
He can tell you how 20 billion dollars in Iraqi oil revenues and other funds, supposed to be “safeguarded” by the Development Fund for Iraq and intended to rebuild the country, have disappeared from banks administered by the Coalition Provisional Authority.
He knows this war is about a deal that Bush and Blair made to ensure the security of Iraq’s vast oil fields for Anglo-American interests.
When he lifts his eyes from the dirty broken sidewalk in Baghdad he sees a concrete reminder that his country will be occupied for a long time— the monolithic, fortified billion-dollar U.S. embassy.
Let’s not forget that this illegitimate war is financed by deficit spending, and has already added a trillion dollars to our national debt, much of it held by our own future overlords in China.
We should impeach Bush and Cheney before they find an excuse to attack Iran and ignite a world-wide conflagration of Muslim fury.
By Vince Williams on Jun 3, 2008
Thanks, Steve.
Coming from you, I consider that high praise.
By Vince Williams on Jun 3, 2008