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| Home Front: Politix |
| Jules Crittendon: Not Cricket - Good news is no news regarding Iraq |
| 2007-11-04 |
| This embarrassing. Even the Brits, who are barely in Iraq anymore, are noticing how unsporting the Iraq coverage is. Times of London: Is no news good news or bad news? In Iraq, it seems good news is deemed no news. There has been striking success in the past few months in the attempt to improve security, defeat al-Qaeda sympathisers and create the political conditions in which a settlement between the Shia and the Sunni communities can be reached. This has not been an accident but the consequence of a strategy overseen by General David Petraeus in the past several months … Indeed, on every relevant measure, the shape of the Petraeus curve is profoundly encouraging … None of this means that all the past difficulties have become history. A weakened al-Qaeda will be tempted to attempt more spectacular attacks to inflict substantial loss of life in an effort to prove that it remains in business. Although the tally of car bombings and improvised explosive devices has fallen back sharply, it would only take one blast directed at an especially large crowd or a holy site of unusual reverence for the headlines about impending civil war to be allowed another outing … The current achievements, and they are achievements, are being treated as almost an embarrassment in certain quarters. The entire context of the contest for the Democratic nomination for president has been based on the conclusion that Iraq is an absolute disaster and the first task of the next president is to extricate the United States at maximum speed. Democrats who voted for the war have either repudiated their past support completely (John Edwards) or engaged in a convoluted partial retraction (Hillary Clinton). Congressional Democrats have spent most of this year trying (and failing) to impose a timetable for an outright exit… All of these attitudes have become outdated. There are many valid complaints about the manner in which the Bush Administration and Donald Rumsfeld, in particular, managed Iraq after the 2003 military victory. But not to recognise that matters have improved vastly in the year since Mr Rumsfeld’s resignation from the Pentagon was announced and General Petraeus was liberated would be ridiculous. Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic have to appreciate that Iraq is no longer, as they thought, an exercise in damage limitation but one of making the most of an opportunity. The instinct of too many people is that if Iraq is going badly we should get out because it is going badly and if it is getting better we should get out because it is getting better. This is a catastrophic miscalculation. Iraq is getting better. That is good, not bad, news. Well, they are covering the good news in the United States. With the highest of yeah-but journalism standards: Yeah, things are undeniably better, but … They’re trying to soothe those for whom good news is bad news. They’re diligently hunting for flies in the ointment, and every now and then they get one. More from the Times, which is devoting a great deal of space to this today. Undoubtedly a Murdoch plot: The Day(s) No One Died. I like the comment from reader Howard in Johannesburg, who apparently would rather see genocide in Iraq and a greater Iranosphere: “Hmm… One swallow does not a summer make. Do not encourage America; just now they will want to deliver the same mercy mission to Iran. I have a feeling that will be even less appreciated.” Rising Trade and Safer Streets: Smoking hookah pipes and drinking beer, Sarmad Ali joked and gossiped long into the night with a group of friends in Baghdad – a luxury they could not enjoy a few months ago because of the violence. Slightly tipsy, the young men piled into a minibus and drove to Palestine Street, until recently a no-go area after dark but now filled with traffic and pedestrians. They pulled up outside a recently opened late-night restaurant, which serves sheep’s head on bread, a favourite dish for Iraqi men after a few drinks. Such hangouts, called pacha restaurants, closed after the 2003 invasion because people were too scared to go out late in the evening. “We were surprised to see a pacha restaurant open again,” said Mr Ali, a 28-year-old contractor. “It is a clear sign that things are getting back to normal.” Bloodshed in Iraq, still high by most standards, has dropped significantly since August thanks to the impact of a joint US-Iraqi security plan that has resulted in a huge rise in the number of American and Iraqi forces on the streets. The boom of a car bomb, mortar attack or roadside blast is noticeably less frequent. |
| Posted by:Delphi |
| #3 "sheepÂ’s head on bread, a favourite dish for Iraqi men after a few drinks." I can see that turning into a dare after several shots of tequila. Al |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2007-11-04 13:39 |
| #2 There's always haggis if you prefer a western sort of equivalent .... ;-) |
| Posted by: lotp 2007-11-04 07:58 |
| #1 "sheepÂ’s head on bread" -- I'd need a few drinks just to form that mental image comfortably. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2007-11-04 03:31 |