Really Big Deal that the MSM Won’t Report
The Iraqis are taking over Anbar Province within 10 days!
BAGHDAD (AFP) — The US military is to hand over security control of the former Sunni insurgent bastion of Anbar province to Iraqi forces in the next 10 days, a US military spokesman announced on Monday.
“The handover of Anbar is expected to take place in the next 10 days,” Lieutenant David Russell told AFP, declining to provide an exact date.
Anbar would be the tenth of Iraq’s 18 provinces to be handed back to Iraqi forces by the US-led coalition amid a push to transfer security control of the entire country back to Baghdad.
This could be the biggest news from Iraq since the attack on the terror attack on the al-Askari Mosque but I doubt you will see it on the news tonight.
Now, contrast that with this story from one year ago this week:
by Martin Sieff
UPI Senior News Analyst
Washington (UPI) June 20, 2007These grim developments unfortunately confirm a series of predictions we made when in these columns after the “surge” strategy was unveiled with much optimism and fanfare five months ago. On Jan. 19, we predicted of the “surge” strategy, “Its success seems unlikely.”
Even then, as we noted, there were solid reasons to fear that the “surge” strategy was too little, too late and that it ignored core realities of the strategic dilemmas in Iraq. We noted that the surge had been much hyped, but that it remained exceptionally underpowered.
In Mr. Sieff’s defense, his opinion at the time was being parroted by every network and major newspaper. Harry Reid’s dream of a “lost war” seemed possible. But while Reid, Pelosi, Murtha and the other surrender monkeys were gleefully commenting on another “grim milestone”, something was happening on the ground and it was working. Facts are stubborn things.
I am 100% sure that Mr. Sieff will pen an article as fast as humanly possible hailing the success and thanking God that his “fears” were unfounded.
Chirp, chirp (crickets).
He is not alone. The media trend line about stories in Iraq directly correlate to the numbers of dead US servicemen and women. This is sad but even the New York Times admits it:
According to data compiled by Andrew Tyndall, a television consultant who monitors the three network evening newscasts, coverage of Iraq has been “massively scaled back this year.” Almost halfway into 2008, the three newscasts have shown 181 weekday minutes of Iraq coverage, compared with 1,157 minutes for all of 2007. The “CBS Evening News” has devoted the fewest minutes to Iraq, 51, versus 55 minutes on ABC’s “World News” and 74 minutes on “NBC Nightly News.” (The average evening newscast is 22 minutes long.)
CBS News no longer stations a single full-time correspondent in Iraq, where some 150,000 United States troops are deployed.
This is not because nothing is happening in Iraq; believe me, plenty is happening. This is because their prediction (if not their hope) is not materializing. It’s almost as if they have a collective “if we ignore it, it will go away” mentality.
To use a sports analogy, here’s a headline from today:
Teixeira’s 3 HRs power Braves past Mariners
Notice that it didn’t but could have easily read:
Seattle Pitching Sucks, Again
Now if the second headline were used in a Seattle paper by a local reporter lamenting the effectiveness of the hometown teams pitching, it would be perfectly understandable.
The mainstream media has chosen to ignore any progress in Iraq but how far are we away from this headline:
Sunni Collaborators Undermine Gallant Insurgent Struggle
Category: Politics
This Ain’t Hell Report…
Marines Recruiting Office Protest 21 June 2008 Two of my favorite blogs — This Ain’t Hell and ZombieTime — have cool stuff tonight. First, the Big Stuff from the War on Terror:The US military is to hand over security control…
Go Anbar! It’s about damn time. That’s a bit odd with the UPI article from last year, as usually they are pretty even-keeled.
I am utterly past expecting the Mudstream Media to report anything positive in any sort of headline manner. They’ll bury that which they must print deep into the section. Don’t they realize how many papers they could sell if they would just do something 180 degrees out for them- Join the USA and herald the successes of our troops like the press did in WW-II?
I don’t buy their fish wrappers, and have no intention to begin now.
nuf sed
This is great news.
I should hope that Matt Howard, et al, aren’t too distressed over this development.
Ah-ooh, ah-ooh, gonna get ’em! Yeah, baby. Way to go.
Mike- Are you kidding? Be happy fo rhte buddies that might be left there that success is growing…no man! They’re getting out the “slit-your wrist music” and making up a new battle plan for the “failing surge.”
Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt; Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt; Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip, Defiance flashed in Casey’s eye, a sneer curled Casey’s lip. And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air, And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there. Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped– “That ain’t my style,” said Casey. “Strike one!” the umpire said. From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar, Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore; “Kill him! Kill the umpire!” shouted someone on the stand; And it’s likely they’d have killed him had not Casey raised his hand. With a smile of Christian charity great Casey’s visage shone; He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on; He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the dun sphere flew; But Casey still ignored it and the umpire said, “Strike two!” “Fraud!” cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered “Fraud!” But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed. They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain, And they knew that Casey wouldn’t let that ball go by again. The sneer is gone from Casey’s lip, his teeth are clenched in hate, He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate; And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go, And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey’s blow. Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright, The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light; And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout, But there is no joy in Mudville–mighty Casey has struck out. Without a press agent, you would not know this story. Archibald Clavering Gunter, an author of novels, was “Casey’s” press agent. The MUDVILLE STREAM MEDIA, like “Casey at Bat” has indeed struck out, and has nothing to say about their failure.… Read more »
defendUSA –
Perhaps we should send someone out on a humanitarian mission and remove all the sharp objects from the IVAW house.
mtngrandpa said:
The MSM is the press agent for the failed insurgency. — MSM, Ya-All chose the wrong side to cheer for!!!! Enjoy your defeat, you asked for it, and have totally deserved it.
The MSM was the press agent for the failed insurgency! As with all of the Democratic politicians that invested so much in our defeat, we need to forever remember who they were and to remind everyone that Obama/Pelosi/Reid/Murtha invested much in our defeat (that didn’t happen!)… isn’t that considered treason?
Mike…
Sounds like a plan…bring some trip wires as we strip the house cause I might fall and lose control of my sharp objects! Clowns with facial hair are ugly!
It’s great news, but it won’t be on the news. The only way they will report it is if they can spin it in some way…like “US troops forced to retreat from Anbar province”.
I can see it all coming now…McCain spearheaded a change in strategy that is rapidly bringing about stability in Iraq. By the time Obama wins the election, it will be so stable that we actually can withrdaw a substantial number of troops and he and the democrats will take all the credit, and portray our troops as occupiers.
rochester_veteran Says:
isn’t that considered treason?
Definitely Treason, and that treason has resulted in our warriors losing their lives. When Harry Reid said “This War is Lost”, the insurgency was aided and encouraged. Everytime Murtha said our troops were cold blooded killers, he aided and encouraged the enemy to recruit more insurgents. American Blood flowed because of our own MSM, and the Obama/Pelosi/Reid/Murtha investment in DEFEAT. How many American Lives do need to sacrifice before somebody is convicted of Treason?
Treason happens, and NOT prosecuting it is also a crime.
I strongly believe this war would have been over years ago, if the dimocrats would have REALLY shown support of our troops. Instead, they chose Treason that supports the enemy instead of the commander in chief. A United America is impossible to beat.
mtngrandpa said:
I strongly believe this war would have been over years ago, if the dimocrats would have REALLY shown support of our troops. Instead, they chose Treason that supports the enemy instead of the commander in chief. A United America is impossible to beat.
I went on our local newspaper Forums and battled with the lefties about this very point! We were attacked in a manner reminicent of Pearl Harbor. Our Commander-in-Chief had to make some tough calls in the days after 911 and I believe it was a good call to take out Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and I also believe our CiC made the right call to take out Saddam Hussein and the Ba’ath Party in Iraq. In the greater War on Terror and rogue nations, it would have been folly to leave Hussein in power. Now we have Iran surrounded and it’s our call on when to take out their nukes.
At a time of War, the Democratic investment in defeat that was propagated by Obama/Pelosi/Reid/Murtha did indeed cost American lives and prolonged the conflict. They gave aid and comfort to the enemy, and in Pelosi’s case, commiserated with the Dictator Assad of Syria, the place where the working Iraqi WMD’s were trucked prior to the invasion of Iraq.
COB6 said: “In Mr. Sieff’s defense, his opinion at the time was being parroted by every network and major newspaper.”
So, Sieff was just another media sheeple. In spite of all the success and progress reported by boots-on-the-ground journalists like Michael Yon and Bill Roggio, the MSM continues to spin their defeatist bullshit because anything else would violate their agenda.