Pains of Democracy*

Well, that sick feeling in my stomach is gone. It was there for a day.
God is still in control of all things, of our leaders and our country.
That gives me comfort regardless of who is in power.
If folks in America thought they were making a change last week they surely did!
Now that the liberals are in power they can't hide behind minority status and I believe America will see their true colors in these next two years.

Polls say that Iraq was the most important issue. And according to our media, even Foxnews, the war in Iraq is going badly. I refuse to believe that. The news simply reports the negative things. It fails to report the positive. There have been three elections in three years where voting meant the possibility of death. There are 18 provinces in Iraq. Only 5 have severe violence. But thats all we hear about.

Gen. Casey: “This Is Not A Country That Is Awash In Sectarian Violence.” GEN. CASEY: “Make no mistake about it: We are in a tough fight here in the center of the country and in Anbar Province. But I think it’s important to remind people that 90 percent of the sectarian violence in Iraq takes place in about a 30-mile radius from the center of Baghdad, and secondly, that 90 percent of all violence takes place in five provinces. This is not a country that is awash in sectarian violence.” (Gen. Casey, Multi-National Force – Iraq Press Briefing, 10/24/2006)


The deputy Prime Minister just said in October the following, ""I believe, come next year, you will be seeing Iraqi forces in the lead in many of the Iraqi provinces.
By the end of the year, nearly seven or eight provinces of Iraq out of 18 provinces will be under direct Iraqi security control." http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061023/wl_afp/britainiraqmilitary
Isn't that what we want? Why isn't this being widely reported?

Did you hear about this story on the evening news?

The Prime Minister of the Iraqi Kurdistan regional government met with the families of fallen U.S. soldiers on Nov. 6th and he had a message for the news media: your coverage of the Iraq war is terribly biased.
“CNN International and Al Jazeera are equally bad in their coverage of the situation in Iraq,” said Nerchivan Barzani, Prime Minister of Iraqi Kurdistan.
“When I was in the United States recently and read the negative news in the Washington Post, New York Times and in the network TV broadcasts, I even wondered if things had gotten so bad since I had left that I shouldn’t return,” said Prime Minister Barzani.

I found the same thing to be true when I studied abroad in Jerusalem in 2000 for 4 months. I was there when the second intifada started. I was actually at the Western Wall when the first surge of violence started. There had been 3 years of peace and then the dam broke. Bombs went off. Rocks were thrown. I watched a battle of Palestinians fighting Israeli IDF forces in Gilo 2 miles away from the roof top of my school. I saw the helicopter gunships shooting missles and machine guns rat-tat-tatting.

Yeah, it was a bit scary to be in Israel. The school was flooded with phone calls from worried parents, mine included. Accoring to western media it was world war three in Israel. Even though I saw those things and heard about the violence, it never really was that close to me. It wasn't nearly as apocalyptic as the US news made it out to be. I did have some friends leave to go home, but less to do with the violence and more as an excuse to go home because of homesickness. When they got home they were amazed by the intensity of the negative reporting. They knew better.

The same was true for PM Barzani this last week. The same is true for US soldiers who come home and hear nothing but negative news reporting. I have a friend who came back after two tours and he couldn't understand why America's media was so slanted. He's back now fighting for our country. Did he have horrible stories to tell? Yes. Bad things happened, bad things are happening. I dont want to take away the gravity of that AT ALL. Violence is awful and hearing about suffering and death is tragic and heart wrenching.
But our media reports overwhelmingly about the tragic.
What about our successes?
Why wasnt this on the headline of any paper?

GEN. CASEY: “The American people … should also know that the men and women of the Armed Forces here have never lost a battle in over three years of war; that is a fact unprecedented in military history. They and our Iraqi Security Forces continue to carry the fight to the enemy every day, and I continue to be in awe of their courage, their agility, their resourcefulness and their commitment. You can be confident that our servicemen and women are well-trained, well-equipped and well-led.” (Gen. Casey, Multi-National Force – Iraq Press Briefing, 10/24/2006)

Never lost a battle???? Wait, according to everything I hear we are a losing the war.
How come we never hear quotes from Iraqi's who support our actions?

Here are some:

"Let me tell you, I for one Iraqi, and the majority of the Iraqi people, will always be grateful for the Americans and British for getting rid of the most despicable and the brutal Bathest dictatorship headed by Saddam.
Things are bad in Iraq because these thugs and their new Jihadi allies will not give up the power they lost and are taking their vengeance on all Iraqis who dared to dream of a democratic and decent country. It is not the Americans who are killing Iraqis, it is these terrorists and their supporters. Why is everybody talking themselves into defeat in the war against these subhumans who have tarnished the name of Islam.
Do you expect Iraqis to just give up to these thugs? Should any decent human being accept these thugs taking control again? I can’t believe the nonsense I read everyday!"
S KarimAbu Dhabi

I totally agree with Kareem, I’m an Iraqi living in Dubai, and I’m very happy that the dictator has been removed at last. But now the Iraqis need to stand together against his followers who are doing their best in creating unrest in the country, I remember the time when we used to live in complete harmony with all religious groups.Most of the people creating this unrest are coming from neighbouring countries, and are members of terrorist organizations.I call for the neighbouring countries to put strict control on their borders.

http://www.7days.ae/2006/10/26/many-iraqis-happy-with-us-intervention.html


Is it a black and white issue? No it is not. There is tragedy in Iraq. It is a war. Are things going as well as they could be? Have strategic mistakes been made?
Sure, there are mistakes in every war.
I am not saying not to report on these things. I am saying that the reporting is unabashadly slanted towards the negative.
But it is not so black that we cannot report the positive.

Imagine if the press belittled FDR during WWII? Imagine if a leading reporter met with Hitler for an interview when the whispers of war are stirring? (As Dan Rather did.)
Imagine if a presidential candidate called our troops terrorists and made them equal to Pol-Pot's genocidal Khmer-Rouge?
We went to war in Germany to fight off a genocidal dictator.
We went to war in Iraq to fight off a genocidal dictator.
And the press during WWII worked to help the war effort not destroy it.
Now some of the press today works with the enemy.
CNN getting a propaganda tape from a terrorist organization showing terrorists sniping our troops. The only request from this terrorist org. was that CNN would give them a fair shake.
And CNN did, by showing the tape not once but twice on CNN. Showing our troops being killed by terrorist.

Where are the tapes of our men and women defeating the enemy???

Where are the successes?

No wonder Americans think the war in Iraq is an utter failure.

* (the amazing title is quoted from esteemed blogger and friend, jeffrey B price.)