Saturday, February 24, 2007
The surge and the media: Is no news good news?
Patrick Ruffini thinks that the surge is succeeding. There is evidence of that, he says, in both the facts, and that you haven't heard of them.
A gloomy haze has settled over the nation's prosecution of the War on Terror as of late. It seems like we can only watch helplessly as Nancy Pelosi and Jack Murtha size up new angles of attack for undermining the war effort. The media is chomping at the bit the tell the story of an America, bruised and humbled and exhausted, heading for the exits in Iraq.
But something interesting is happening on the way to the "new direction." Early indications are that the troop surge into Baghdad is working. It hasn't been reported on widely, but murders in Baghdad are down 70%, attacks are down 80%, Mahdi Army chief Moqtada al-Sadr has reportedly made off for Iran, and many Baghdadis who had fled the violence now feel it's safe enough to return. The strategy that Congress is busy denouncing is proving to be our best hope for victory.
In Iraq, there's a sense that change is in the air -- literally. Omar of Iraq the Model spots a B-1 Bomber in the skies of Baghdad for the first time since the end of the major combat. On the ground, Omar writes that the signs that Iraqis are getting serious about security are more palbable. With the help of Compstat-like technology, security forces are cracking down at checkpoints (even ambulances are getting stopped) and getting nimbler about locating them strategically so the terrorists don't know what to expect.
This turnaround in Baghdad is confirmed at home by the media's near-deafening silence. If it seems like you've heard less about how Iraq is spiraling into civil war in the weeks since the surge was announced, this is why. Even some discordant voices in the media are starting to wonder what's happening. Time magazine worries that it's "Quiet in Baghdad. Too quiet." That's right -- a dramatic reduction in violence is actually bad news....
When things don't go well in Iraq, we see the endless B-roll of chaos and carnage. When things are on the upswing, we tend to hear more about Anna Nicole Smith. The media will never acknowledge victories in Iraq, so we'll have to settle for an absence of bad coverage. But even in this relative lull in Iraq, it's important to understand and appreciate the short-term victories so we can create more of them. And finish the job.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if he were right?
4 Comments:
By 
D.E. Cloutier, at
Sat Feb 24, 11:17:00 PM:
"And finish the job."
Yeah, right. Here is something to remember in the case of Iraq:
According to a report from President Grant to the U.S. Congress in 1871, the American South experienced more than 5,000 terrorists attacks in the six years after the end of the American Civil War. The violence continued throughout Reconstruction and beyond. In fact, violence by the KKK and others continued to surface periodically in the South for more than a 100 years after the American Civil War.
By TigerHawk, at
Sun Feb 25, 07:24:00 AM:
SJ, you're probably right that these guys are melting in. However, even if you are that may be a good result. Remember, the point of the strategy is to buy time for the center in Iraq -- to put the government in a position to deal with these guys when they do come back. So, if that is valid, time is not on their side.
By Sissy Willis, at
Sun Feb 25, 01:13:00 PM:
Seal-a-Hole, early and often. It works for me.
By ScurvyOaks, at
Tue Feb 27, 11:40:00 PM:
DEC,
Do you have cite for that report on Reconstruction? Your summary doesn't surprise me, but I'd love to see the report itself. Thanks.
