Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Five Years of the Iraq War End in Utter and Total Failure!

I'm getting over some near-cousin of the flu, so this may be a side-effect of my illness: but it seems that the title I gave this post reflects traditional news media coverage.

The headlines are actually a bit more reserved. A typical one is "Marches, solemn memorials as US marks 5th anniversary of Iraq war" Pioneer Press (March 19, 2008). The content is the same standard-issue reporting that I became familiar with in the sixties:
  • Serious protesters braving the elements, enlightening the apathetic masses
  • Harrowing tales of human misery from bereaved fathers, tearful mothers, bitter veterans
  • Dutiful reporting of anti-war slogans and talking points
    • "Out of Iraq"
    • "No war, no warming"
    • "No blood for Oil!"
    • " ' I've watched with horror as Bush has lied about this war,' ... 'I'm appalled at the number of civilians we've killed just as we did in Vietnam.' "
      [emphasis mine]
  • An optional report of vandalism by anti-war protesters
News would seem to be uniformly bad, when it comes to the war in Iraq. There are, however, grudging and qualified admissions now and again that the prospect isn't entirely bleak.

For example, buried at the bottom of a standard Associated Press article: "The Iraq war has been unpopular both abroad and in the United States, although an Associated Press-Ipsos poll in December showed that growing numbers think the U.S. is making progress and will eventually be able to claim some success in Iraq." [emphasis mine]

"Eventually ... some success." I suppose that "success" doesn't include:
  • Removing a dictator whose brutality and genocidal tendencies earned him a place among the world's top tyrants: and a death sentence
  • Helping Iraqis set up an independent and 'democratic' government
  • Working with Iraq, to repair more than three decades' worth of neglected infrastructure
If those accomplishments were "success," you'd think that the news would report it. Right?
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Blogroll

Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1 1 Given a recent misunderstanding of the phrase "useful resources," a clarification: I do not limit my reading to resources which support my views, or even to those which appear to be accurate. Reading opinions contrary to what I believed has been very useful at times: sometimes verifying my previous assumptions, sometimes encouraging me to change them.

Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.

In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.