Sunday, June 24, 2007
What's With Our News Coverage Priorities?
I have been trying to find out what's happening in Baquba all day. Michael Yon posted earlier last week and then fell silent. I hope he's OK. I can find out details of a poor little rich girl's traffic court travails; it seems Fox is going non-stop about some woman being murdered and her husband arrested for it. Like that's news. But there's barely a peep about our biggest offensive in Iraq since the Mission Accomplished banner went up on the USS Abraham Lincoln years ago. Except that al Qaeda already lost by killing fellow Muslims indiscriminately, this could be the Midway of Gulf War II.
I'm not alone in my frustration. Behold Jack Kelly's cogent whine:
Simultaneous offensives are being conducted in another insurgents' rat's nest, Babil province southwest of Baghdad, and in Baghdad neighborhoods where coalition soldiers in the past have been reluctant to go.
Simultaneous offensives are the best way to gain decisive victory over a numerically inferior force, because they prevent the enemy from shifting forces from one front to another. The Union did not prevail in our Civil War until Grant attacked in the East at the same time as Sherman attacked in the West.
Our soldiers are being assisted by former insurgents who have turned against al-Qaida. Unlike the Anbar Salvation Council on which it is modeled, the Diyala Salvation Front isn't strong enough to take on al-Qaida by itself. But the intelligence its members provide could prove invaluable to our troops.
You haven't heard of the Anbar Salvation Council? Maybe that's because our news media have tended to treat good news from Iraq as no news. When Thomas Ricks of The Washington Post reported last September that a senior Marine intelligence officer thought Anbar province had been "lost politically," his story attracted enormous attention from his fellow journalists. Google lists 789,000 references to that one story.
The Anbar Salvation Council, a coalition of 41 Sunni tribes under the leadership of Sheik Abdul Sattar al-Rishawi, has in very short order reversed that situation (if it were ever as dire as Col. Pete Devlin imagined). Al-Qaida has been all but driven out of Iraq's "Wild West." But Google lists only 114,000 mentions of the Anbar Salvation Council. (Paris Hilton has nearly 76 million mentions.)
The Anbar Salvation Council model is spreading. The Diyala Salvation Front was formed in May. More than 10 tribes in Baghdad and its suburbs have banded together to fight al-Qaida, USA Today reported Tuesday.
If Arrowhead Ripper succeeds, al-Qaida in Iraq will suffer a blow from which it may not recover. "In Diyala, both the foreign jihadists and their domestic allies are beginning to feel cornered, with few places left to hide," STRATFOR said.
But if Arrowhead Ripper succeeds, you may not hear much about it. A U.S. victory would be too embarrassing for those in the media who have staked their reputations on defeat.
Al Qaeda has a rough choice when we actually wage war against them. They can stand and die or they can run away like little girls and be seen as the weak horses asses they are. Wow, who could have imagined that all we had to do to win this front of the war was attack the enemy in force? General Petraeus must be a Grant-like genius.
UPDATE: Bill Roggio reported yesterday that everyone is doubting that there will be a big fight, al Qaeda last stand in Baquba. Darn. That means they slipped out easily. Well, if it was easy, anyone could do it. Running away, as I said, has its own problems for al Qaeda.
I'm not alone in my frustration. Behold Jack Kelly's cogent whine:
Simultaneous offensives are being conducted in another insurgents' rat's nest, Babil province southwest of Baghdad, and in Baghdad neighborhoods where coalition soldiers in the past have been reluctant to go.
Simultaneous offensives are the best way to gain decisive victory over a numerically inferior force, because they prevent the enemy from shifting forces from one front to another. The Union did not prevail in our Civil War until Grant attacked in the East at the same time as Sherman attacked in the West.
Our soldiers are being assisted by former insurgents who have turned against al-Qaida. Unlike the Anbar Salvation Council on which it is modeled, the Diyala Salvation Front isn't strong enough to take on al-Qaida by itself. But the intelligence its members provide could prove invaluable to our troops.
You haven't heard of the Anbar Salvation Council? Maybe that's because our news media have tended to treat good news from Iraq as no news. When Thomas Ricks of The Washington Post reported last September that a senior Marine intelligence officer thought Anbar province had been "lost politically," his story attracted enormous attention from his fellow journalists. Google lists 789,000 references to that one story.
The Anbar Salvation Council, a coalition of 41 Sunni tribes under the leadership of Sheik Abdul Sattar al-Rishawi, has in very short order reversed that situation (if it were ever as dire as Col. Pete Devlin imagined). Al-Qaida has been all but driven out of Iraq's "Wild West." But Google lists only 114,000 mentions of the Anbar Salvation Council. (Paris Hilton has nearly 76 million mentions.)
The Anbar Salvation Council model is spreading. The Diyala Salvation Front was formed in May. More than 10 tribes in Baghdad and its suburbs have banded together to fight al-Qaida, USA Today reported Tuesday.
If Arrowhead Ripper succeeds, al-Qaida in Iraq will suffer a blow from which it may not recover. "In Diyala, both the foreign jihadists and their domestic allies are beginning to feel cornered, with few places left to hide," STRATFOR said.
But if Arrowhead Ripper succeeds, you may not hear much about it. A U.S. victory would be too embarrassing for those in the media who have staked their reputations on defeat.
Al Qaeda has a rough choice when we actually wage war against them. They can stand and die or they can run away like little girls and be seen as the weak horses asses they are. Wow, who could have imagined that all we had to do to win this front of the war was attack the enemy in force? General Petraeus must be a Grant-like genius.
UPDATE: Bill Roggio reported yesterday that everyone is doubting that there will be a big fight, al Qaeda last stand in Baquba. Darn. That means they slipped out easily. Well, if it was easy, anyone could do it. Running away, as I said, has its own problems for al Qaeda.
Labels: Iraq Successes, News Blackout
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 4:32 PM 
Comments:
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So is Paris Hilton part of the Anbar Salvation Council? I heard she volunteered as part of her probation thinking it was an arm of the Salvation Army. As we speak she is winging her way to Iraq with a tripod; pot; and bell.
# posted by 
: 7:01 PM
: 7:01 PM
"this could be the Midway of Gulf War II."
Good line. I'm going to remember it.
Good line. I'm going to remember it.
# posted by : 10:00 AM
: 10:00 AM
"Running away, as I said, has its own problems for al Qaeda."
Don't you just hate guerrilla warfare? How many carriers did we sink?
Don't you just hate guerrilla warfare? How many carriers did we sink?
# posted by : 10:14 AM
: 10:14 AM
The suicide bomber who blew himself up in the lobby of the Mansour Hotel killed four sheiks at least one of whom was part of the Anbar Salvation Council.
The guy got through at least two checkpoints. I am thinking thsi was an inside job.
The guy got through at least two checkpoints. I am thinking thsi was an inside job.
# posted by : 10:42 AM
: 10:42 AM
If you are wondering why this isn't getting much coverage, it is probably mostly due to the incredible difficulty of covering anything in Iraq, especially battles.
I have 502 knowledge on this from a good friend who just got back.
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I have 502 knowledge on this from a good friend who just got back.
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