Posted on Mon, 05/12/2008 - 19:21 — by backrow
Progress Report 5/12 Remember Basra?
By Peter Wehner
In an important front-page story in the New York Times Monday, we read this:
"Three hundred miles south of Baghdad, the oil-saturated city of Basra has been transformed by its own surge, now seven weeks old. In a rare success, forces loyal to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki have largely quieted the city, to the initial surprise and growing delight of many inhabitants who only a month ago shuddered under deadly clashes between Iraqi troops and Shiite militias. Among the many uncertainties are whether the government, criticized for incompetence at the start of the operation, can maintain the high level of troops here. But in interviews across Basra, residents overwhelmingly reported a substantial improvement in their everyday lives. “The circle of fear is broken,” said Shaker, owner of a floating restaurant on Basra’s famed Corniche promenade, who, although optimistic, was still afraid to give his full name, as were many of those interviewed.
And this: The principal factor for improvement that people in Basra cite is the deployment of 33,000 members of the Iraqi security forces after the March 24 start of operations, which allowed the government to blanket the city with checkpoints on every major intersection and highway. Borrowing tactics from the troop increase in Baghdad, the Iraqi forces raided militia strongholds and arrested hundreds of suspects. They also seized weapons including mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and sophisticated roadside bombs that officials say were used by Iranian-backed groups responsible for much of the violence. Government forces have now taken over Islamic militants’ headquarters and halted the death squads and “vice ‘enforcers’” who attacked women, Christians, musicians, alcohol sellers and anyone suspected of collaborating with Westerners. Shaker’s floating restaurant stands as one emblem of the change since then. Just two months ago, he said, masked men in military uniforms walked into the packed dining room and abducted a businessman at gunpoint. The man was never seen again, and the restaurant closed. Now, however, customers who fled that evening are pressing the 34-year-old owner to stay open later at night, so they can enjoy their unaccustomed freedom from the gangs, which once banned the loud Arabic pop music now blaring from Shaker’s loudspeakers. “Now it is very different,” he said. “After we heard that the lawless people have been arrested or killed, we have a kind of courage.”
================== BY the way, a NYTIMES editor recently ADMITTED the paper is "Liberal" which is still putting it mildly. And as if you didn't know.
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 291
Recall some months were the media celebrated shortfalls on military recruiting goals. Haven't heard anything lately. Probably because the Marines were just at 142 percent of goals. That is evidently not newsworthy....and most important it doesn't fit the media template of "military= wrong, bad, sad or nuts".
Also, reading the papers you'd think marines, soldiers, sailors or airmen coming home are all maimed, or psycologically damaged. I know for a fact ..military personel return to the Bay Area EVERY Week (to local welcomes), who are strong and patriotic. But that is passed over by the press...because it doesn't send a message of which Editors approve.
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 539
But the maimed and the wounded and the psychologically damaged -- thought spoken about in generalities and sometimes through selected images representing the mass -- remain the forgotten victims, don't they? They are a political football, called to our attention when it serves someone's purpose (the media itself, any political candidate for office, officeholders trying to show this that and the other) and those "someone's" can be just about anybody ... including you in the previous post. A larger percentage of American soldiers return home without the physical damage (the mental and emotional is a little harder to judge, wouldn't you agree?), so you are absolutely correct in what you say. However, do not forget those who have paid a price, like our government almost always does! And don't oversimplify ... many of the wounded and scarred are just as patriotic as those who received no physical wound, many of the unscarred are outspoken about the war, and speaking out does not equate with "unpatriotic".
I also agree that I have read nothing about the success of the Marine Corps in exceeding its recruitment goals. Sort of undermines both the President's and Mr. McCain's argument that adding college benefits for Veterans will negatively impact recruitment though, doesn't it?
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 97
I am certain that all the Veterans that post on this board will take a moment tomorrow to think of all the Men and Women who paid the ultimate price for their Country, I would also hope that those who did not serve for whatever reason would also take a moment to reflect on the sacrafices that these Men and Women have made, In many respects what is said on these boards and others like them all over our Country is made possible by the sacrafices that they have made.
God Bless America.
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 539
Good points, and well taken!
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 105
I noticed a pattern long ago with the Lame Stream Media. It seems to them that they enjoy bad news, and bad news is newsworthy more than good news. The LSM is a propaganda machine in itself with its ability to reach millions with biased information. Hence, the information that the public digests daily from the LSM helps to sway the public opinion on events in the middle east and domestically.
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 539
For once I am in complete agreement. Interesting ... both of us (of course) think the MSM favors one side over the other, but I think you have hit the nail on the head. At the core of corporate monopoly lie profits, so what gets broadcast is that which corporate officials feels sells advertising space. Bad news, fear, disaster, controversy, scandal all rank right up there at the top. One cute, heartwarming story per each 1/2 hour of "gotcha" news. Nothing done in depth, everything superficial and therefore "objective". And stories that feed on themselves are the best yet ... how many headlines, how many blocs of time, how much less work must be done to keep something like the Reverend Wright on the air, or OJ, or Texas polygamists, or kidnapped (beauties, wives, celebrities), or any buxom/macho TV Guide/MTV hero run amok and/or astray. They all serve the purpose.
Anything but "news".
Anything but analysis or discussion (unless it is a predictable "Talk Show" with the usual suspects representing the recognized talking points).
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 147
Experts tell us that we all have an emotional limit. That we can grieve for just so long for dead relatives, friends or soldiers, firemen and policemen or for 9/11 victims. After this limit is reached, it takes an ever bigger shock, a bigger tragedy and greater loss of life to bring out an emotional response we can identify.
Remember Katrina? "We'll Never Forget" was the resolute promise. How much bigger was the loss in Indonesia, Ceylan or Burma? I don't even remember the new names of these places, or the number dead or starving. Did we rush contributions to help? Did we donate to the Red Cross? Or, are we, as the experts says, "emotionally exhausted" or glad to have ruthless rulers to blame for our lack of feelings?
There is also the issue of cost. Many that feel sorry for the uncared wounded think it is too much to pay for a "GI Bill" worthy of the name. We now have a Presidential Candidate that spoke out about "excessive" expenditures and, get this, this candidate was once a tortured prisioner of war. He is, allegedly, willing to object or support or both, the use of torture.
What feelings or who defines us as "a people", the super rich, super famous, super wounded or the super dead? Ask the relatives of an Iraq Veteran with Post Traumatic problems from all they were send to do and kill in Iraq. Some decry in Letters to the Editor that "not all are wounded" and seems to argue that "therefore" what?
If someone we never met fails to die, should we care? I mean, should we celebrate? Did we? No! Of course not! We have more important things to do and TV programs to watch. Could it be that TV killings add to our emotional exhaustion? I am just wondering, it could also be a simple unrelated coincidence. What do you think? Are we in danger of becoming less human? Some make strong arguments for torture, send the unemployed to Iraq but don't pay them too much and maybe, just maybe, we should plan on a "Hundred Year War!"
MikeSar