What's the 'good news' in Iraq?

[JCMach1]

Reports surfacing in the international press noted "progress" and "good news" about Iraq's situation when it comes to stability and development.

Reports on the ground from the US military noted a 55 per cent drop in attacks since the surge was implemented nine months ago and that violence has dropped to its lowest rate since 2005 as Baghdad gained the best numbers with 75 per cent decline in civilian casualties.

That was what the US media reported as "good news".

In his Newsweek report on the situation in Baghdad, journalist Rod Nordland conveyed a totally different picture of Baghdad in his latest visit after a four-month absence. "There hasn't been a successful suicide car bombing in Baghdad in five weeks," he said...

If we carefully examine the steps taken by US forces to achieve those results, we would find that winning the hearts and minds of Iraqis was not one of them.

The results were mainly due to the use of some fractions to achieve what they couldn't. In particular, it was the use of tribal Sunni militia to track down foreign Al Qaida elements.

Indeed, Saddam loyalists and former Sunni insurgents have been armed by the US and encouraged to go after the "foreign elements" in the country and eliminate them. In this they have been successful.

Although the spread of arms with any group apart from the police and army forces is not a healthy sign, it did however achieve some short-term objectives. The long-run however remains a whole different story.

If there is one thing that unites almost all Iraqis, is their desire to see the US troops out of the country. This is also recognised by the American people, who are increasingly approving the withdrawal of their forces as soon as possible.

With such "good news" emerging, a positive sentimental feeling is filling the air with high hopes in having an end to this resource-depleting venture.

Even General David Petraeus is acknowledging the possibility of having a withdrawal plan that could allow some American soldiers to spend their Christmas holidays with their families.

With all this encouraging "good news" the media, particularly in the US, is reporting, should we take this news for its face value and avoid all the long-term implications of what is going on?

The shallowness of media coverage following the 9/11 incident had helped drum up for the war against Iraq. This very shallowness is now promoting the idea that things seem to be going in the right direction... http://gulfnews.com/opinion/columns/region/10171328.html

[Demeter]

1. The Good News Is....

there is no good news, just less bad news, if one doesn't poke it too hard.

[peacebird]

2. the good news is that M$M isn't reporting on iraq much now...

at least that's the good news for bush and the repubs