Thanks for the big boom, Chris.

Chris has only been in Iraq for a week or so now, but he's been pretty busy, apparently. He told us a few days ago that he'd be blowing something up in the next week, but he couldn't say what, where or when. Today he alerted us that Geraldo was covering what he'd done. I found Geraldo's streaming video report. Here's the direct URL to view it: 1. Launch Windows Media Player (sorry, Mac people) 2. Click File -> Open URL 3. Paste in this url: mms://66.232.154.15/012605/usw_ammo_geraldo_012605_300.wmv 4. Click OK and watch. The video is also (temporarily) a headline at foxnews.com. I found it by clicking on "US & World" on the right side of the screen, then the news story called "War on Terror: U.S. troops destroy huge weapons cache in Iraq" In short, the 212th Cavalry found a huge weapons cache in Mosul, raw materials for about 800-1000 IED's, plus many other explosives not usable for that. I infer from context that Chris's battalion was called in to help blow them up. (Chris is in the 612th engineering division - they build stuff and destroy stuff.) The 212th Cav is coming home very soon. According to this report, they've lost 10, but it seems to me they've saved a lot more than that through their discovery. Chris, if you can pass along a message, please let your group and anyone you can from the 212th know that we're proud of what you've done, and grateful beyond words for putting all your lives in harm's way to make Iraq (and the world) a safer place. The media may not get it, but most ordinary people do.

Word from the front

I thought I was done posting for today, but then I saw this essay from LTC Tim Ryan, Commander, Task Force 2-12 Cavalry, First Cavalry Division in Iraq. It's quite a long article, with plenty of examples of what the news has reported and what he is actually seeing on the ground. This confirms what I have heard from many others, though Commander Ryan sums it up in one place quite well.

All right, I've had enough. I am tired of reading distorted and grossly exaggerated stories from major news organizations about the "failures" in the war in Iraq. "The most trusted name in news" and a long list of others continue to misrepresent the scale of events in Iraq. Print and video journalists are covering only a fraction of the events in Iraq and, more often than not, the events they cover are only negative. The inaccurate picture they paint has distorted the world view of the daily realities in Iraq. The result is a further erosion of international support for the United States' efforts there, and a strengthening of the insurgents' resolve and recruiting efforts while weakening our own. Through their incomplete, uninformed and unbalanced reporting, many members of the media covering the war in Iraq are aiding and abetting the enemy.

...

What about the media's portrayal of the enemy? Why do these ruthless murderers, kidnappers and thieves get a pass when it comes to their actions? What did the the media show or tell us about Margaret Hassoon, the director of C.A.R.E. in Iraq and an Iraqi citizen, who was kidnapped, brutally tortured and left disemboweled on a street in Fallujah? Did anyone in the press show these images over and over to emphasize the moral failings of the enemy as they did with the soldiers at Abu Ghuraib? Did anyone show the world how this enemy had huge stockpiles of weapons in schools and mosques, or how he used these protected places as sanctuaries for planning and fighting in Fallujah and the rest of Iraq? Are people of the world getting the complete story? The answer again is no! What the world got instead were repeated images of a battle-weary Marine who made a quick decision to use lethal force and who immediately was tried in the world press. Was this one act really illustrative of the overall action in Fallujah? No, but the Marine video clip was shown an average of four times each hour on just about every major TV news channel for a week. This is how the world views our efforts over here and stories like this without a counter continually serve as propaganda victories for the enemy. Al Jazeera isn't showing the film of the CARE worker, but is showing the clip of the Marine. Earlier this year, the Iraqi government banned Al Jazeera from the country for its inaccurate reporting. Wonder where they get their information now? Well, if you go to the Internet, you'll find a web link from the Al Jazeera home page to CNN's home page. Very interesting.

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Did it ever occur to the media that this type of notoriety is just what the terrorists want and need? Every headline they grab is a victory for them. Those who have read the ancient Chinese military theorist and army general Sun Tzu will recall the philosophy of "Kill one, scare ten thousand" as the basic theory behind the strategy of terrorism. Through fear, the terrorist can then manipulate the behavior of the masses. The media allows the terrorist to use relatively small but spectacular events that directly affect very few, and spread them around the world to scare millions. What about the thousands of things that go right every day and are never reported? Complete a multi-million-dollar sewer project and no one wants to cover it, but let one car bomb go off and it makes headlines. With each headline, the enemy scores another point and the good-guys lose one. This method of scoring slowly is eroding domestic and international support while fueling the enemy's cause. I believe one of the reasons for this shallow and subjective reporting is that many reporters never actually cover the events they report on. This is a point of growing concern within the Coalition. It appears many members of the media are hesitant to venture beyond the relative safety of the so-called "International Zone" in downtown Baghdad, or similar "safe havens" in other large cities. Because terrorists and other thugs wisely target western media members and others for kidnappings or attacks, the westerners stay close to their quarters. This has the effect of holding the media captive in cities and keeps them away from the broader truth that lies outside their view. With the press thus cornered, the terrorists easily feed their unwitting captives a thin gruel of anarchy, one spoonful each day. A car bomb at the entry point to the International Zone one day, a few mortars the next, maybe a kidnapping or two thrown in. All delivered to the doorsteps of those who will gladly accept it without having to leave their hotel rooms — how convenient. The scene is repeated all too often: an attack takes place in Baghdad and the morning sounds are punctuated by a large explosion and a rising cloud of smoke. Sirens wail in the distance and photographers dash to the scene a few miles away. Within the hour, stern-faced reporters confidently stare into the camera while standing on the balcony of their tenth-floor Baghdad hotel room, their back to the city and a distant smoke plume rising behind them. More mayhem in Gotham City they intone, and just in time for the morning news. There is a transparent reason why the majority of car bombings and other major events take place before noon Baghdad-time; any later and the event would miss the start of the morning news cycle on the U.S. east coast. These terrorists aren't stupid; they know just what to do to scare the masses and when to do it. An important key to their plan is manipulation of the news media. But, at least the reporters in Iraq are gathering information and filing their stories, regardless of whether or the stories are in perspective. Much worse are the "talking heads" who sit in studios or offices back home and pontificate about how badly things are going when they never have been to Iraq and only occasionally leave Manhattan.

Commander Ryan sums it up nicely with this:

Ironically, the press freedom that we have brought to this part of the world is providing support for the enemy we fight. I obviously think it's a disgrace when many on whom the world relies for news paint such an incomplete picture of what actually has happened. Much too much is ignored or omitted. I am confident that history will prove our cause right in this war, but by the time that happens, the world might be so steeped in the gloom of ignorance we won't recognize victory when we achieve it.

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Postscript: I have had my staff aggressively pursue media coverage for all sorts of events that tell the other side of the story only to have them turned down or ignored by the press in Baghdad. Strangely, I found it much easier to lure the Arab media to a "non-lethal" event than the western outlets. Open a renovated school or a youth center and I could always count on Al-Iraqia or even Al-Jazeera to show up, but no western media ever showed up – ever. Now I did have a pretty dangerous sector, the Abu Ghuraib district that extends from western Baghdad to the outskirts of Fallujah (not including the prison), but it certainly wasn't as bad as Fallujah in November and there were reporters in there.

This both emboldens me to tell people about how well the war is going, and sours me on whether there is any hope for our mainstream media.

The political situation in Iraq, now and future

Michael Gove of The Times of London writes a well thought out analysis of the state of things in Iraq. Where the MSM starts to sound like Barney Fife whenever they talk about elections ("They've got guns, Andy!"), this article takes a sober look at the significant differences between the war in Iraq and the war in Vietnam. Some important excerpts:

There is a particular point at which knowledge appears to end and a huge black hole begins. It seems to occur somewhere in the 1960s. The specific event beyond which most commentators now find it difficult to see is the Vietnam War. It has become the dominant reference point for discussion of any current military campaign. The war to liberate Afghanistan had barely begun before sceptics were suggesting that a “Vietnam-style quagmire” loomed. And from the moment plans were laid to topple Saddam’s regime, cynics were certain that the Iraq war would lead, if not to Apocalypse Now, then to the quagmire to end all quagmires.

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If the Iraqi elections due to be held in less than two weeks’ time are successful that will give the coalition something the Americans never enjoyed in Vietnam — a clear political victory. The insurgents will have been defeated in their principal aim, the denial of democracy. The Iraqi leaders most likely to emerge in pole position after the vote, such as the United Iraqi Alliance, have already made it clear that they will offer Sunnis senior positions in any new government. After 80 years during which they have been shut out of secular power the Shia leadership have no desire to assume their proper share in the control of Iraq, only to see the nation they inherit immediately fracture. There are, certainly, dangers ahead. But they lie, as so often in the Middle East, in erring on the side of the status quo.

Note in particular the phrase "will give the coalition something the Americans never enjoyed in Vietnam" (emphasis mine). This "minor" detail is one the MSM consistently ignore - that in Vietnam, we were basically alone, but here we are acting with many others.

Just in case you thought the hate was over

One might imagine that with the election over, we could all set aside the hatefulness displayed during the campaign, come behind our President and get back to business for four years. Apparently, the left have more angst to work out, judging by the following sites: Rabid Nation Not One Damn Dime Counter Inaugural Day Of Fasting Black Thursday.com BlackThursday.org Turn Your Back On Bush