Jan 26 2007
Despite What Patrick McIlheran Thinks, It’s Not Just Newly Painted Schools in Iraq That Matter
Patrick McIlheran wants to remind everyone (again 1, 2) how great things are going in Iraq despite what the “surrender first crowd” (Being opposed to the war, that must make me part of the ridiculous wingnut website term, although I think a more accurate catchphrase would be something like “never wanted to go there to begin with crowd”) thinks, things are actually just peachy in Iraq!
Let’s see: The oil industry’s taking tottering steps to recovery. A general points out that Ramadi, once bereft of cops, now has them. Breakout violence in Mosul has been quelled. A soldier points out his fellow soldiers skip TV news — since it’s so at odds with what they’re seeing. A string of Iraqi army units are killing and capturing insurgents. A bunch of al-Qaida guys are on the run or being caught. The power system’s working. Twenty hospitals are being renovated. Schools are opening. Factories are opening. Life is going on and, in many cases, improving.
Like we could forget the schools… they’re about the only benchmark of progress those on the right seem interested in. Forget an escalation in troops! Sending over 20,000 paint brushes to paint the new schools with is what will end the violence in Iraq!
Then there’s the anecdotal reference to the soldier on the ground who just isn’t seeing the violence for him/herself. The 50-100 bodies a day showing up at the morgue must be part of the mainstream media bias I guess.
I don’t have a problem with people like Mr. McIlheran pointing out the positve things happening in Iraq, it’s the “plugging my ears and saying “la la la la everything is just great in Iraq, don’t let the MSM get you down, mission accomplished freedom fries #1 USA!!!”” mentality that bothers me. If it weren’t so cold, I’d suggest people like him use our recently acquired snowdrifts to bury their heads in.
Ironically, the “real” story isn’t being told about the violence in daily Iraq by publications like the one Mr. McIlheran opines for. The “real” stories about the violence don’t make the evening news, but like this one about “The Battle for Haifa Street” by CBS reporter Lara Logan get relegated to some dark corner of the “MSM’s” website. She writes:
The story below only appeared on our CBS website and was not aired on CBS. It is a story that is largely being ignored, even though this is taking place every single day in central Baghdad, two blocks from where our office is located.
Our crew had to be pulled out because we got a call saying they were about to be killed, and on their way out, a civilian man was shot dead in front of them as they ran.
I would be very grateful if any of you have a chance to watch this story and pass the link on to as many people you know as possible. It should be seen. And people should know about this.
You can view her report below from Youtube. It’s disturbing and for reasons I’m sure only right wing community columnists at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel can explain, completely misrepresents the “real” story of peace and progress in Iraq.
