I'm sick of hearing about "progress" in Iraq

[cali]

I just heard the spin on NPR. They report 27 deaths from a suicide bombing and then go into the spin about how fatalities are radically down in Iraq, and the morgues are seeing fewer bodies. It's a jarring contrast to the fact that 27 people were killed.

There's a full court press on how the surge is working and reducing violence, and even an event like a suicide bombing with mass deaths doesn't dent the spin.

And NPR is part of it.

[izzie]

1. I guess 27 is just better than 28. Crazy stuff.

I like it when they bring up how many were killed on the roads in USA vs. killed in Bush's Iraq war..Got any thoughts how that reason goes around in peoples mind? Course I am still trying to figure out why we are in Iraq when the 911 men mostly came from Saudi. Would not it been like us going to war with Denmark after Pearl Harbor? I guess we have to be tankful that these WH people were not around in 1939 and 1941. I do not even wish to get into the battle that Russia was the place that got the big death count in that part of that war. I do not think most Am. even know that the USSR fought in that war. It was we may end up speaking Russian and not German that we really had to worry about any how.

[Xenotime]

2. Don't be fooled. Things continue to get worse over there.

[cali]

3. I thought it was pretty clear from my OP

that I'm not fooled. What part of "Im sick of hearing about "progress" in Iraq" wasn't clear?

[King Coal]

4. The part that you're sick. It isn't clear that you are quite sick enough.

[tjwash]

5. Come on...they have 6 new tennis courts at the mega-embassy now!

The courts and the new olympic sized swimming pool have been IED free for 39 days now. If that's not progress nothing is!!!11!

Oh, and :sarcasm: for the truly dense among us...

[KharmaTrain]

6. Lull Before The Storm

Besides all hell about to break loose in Kurdistan (if it hasn't already), the false sense of "security" or "progress" that's going on reminds me of the sentiment prior to the Tet offensive in '68. Our corporate media assured us we were "winning" and anyone who doubted was "anti-American". There are some very ominous signs happening in Iraq, and, as expected, this regime will ignore them.

Much of the sectarian fighting has dropped off due to the hot Iraqi summer along with the ongoing "balkanization" of much of the country. Millions have been forced from their homes, whole neighborhoods have become provinces of one religious sect/militia or another and each side is consolidating their position. They all know it's a matter of time for the US to bail and each group is taking the time to position itself when that happens. It's an uneasy "truce" at best.

[cali]

7. I don't call

27+ deaths from a suicide bomber, a lull. And this isn't an anomaly. Though I agree that it's likely things will get even worse.

[KharmaTrain]

9. It's All A Numbers Game

For our beloved corporate media, Iraqi deaths don't count...only American ones do. Also, this regime loves to trumpet "progress" as less deaths this month than last one or a year ago...any bone they can grab onto.

With little real journalism being done in the field in this ugly war, do we really get an accurate count of what is going on? It's all a perception...a comfort zone for the corporate media to manipulate within.

Cheers...

[cali]

11. Nothing could support your argument more than the dismissive

manner in which our press treats Iraqi deaths.

[tekisui]

8. And 11 tribal Sheiks were kidnapped.

One is dead. Most were Sunni Sheiks, 4 were Shiite Sheiks. And it was reported, this comes as a shock after gains in security.

Whatever. Iraq is Hell and its still spiraling out of control.

[mwb970]

10. Is this what you are tired of?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=45IpBTJBObs

[Sparkly]

12. They're often speaking of specific regions.

For example, they'll trumpet Anbar (which the "surge" didn't affect). There have been "surges" and "troop reductions" in various areas since this awful invasion began. As you know, it's all smoke and mirrors, and nobody in the world is buying it except a small percentage of Americans.