A Slice of Bad War Reporting

We who support the war often wonder how the press can only report on the bad that is happening in Iraq without reporting the good or the context. We read about how troops in Iraq are bewildered about the difference in what they see on the ground and what they see in our press.

Well, here is just one small example of how our press fails to report the good and fails to report the context. This article says that Rumsfeld has acknowledged the rough times in Iraq:

"I will say this — it is very clear that the major combat operations were an enormous success," he said, of the March 2003 invasion in which Baghdad fell within weeks. "It's clear that in Phase 2 of this, it has not been going well enough or fast enough."

Pretty damning admission of error and failure, you might think. Yet the headline and quote do not provide the whole answer that Rumsfeld provided. In the transcript, he followed that accurate quote with this:

On the other hand, there have been very impressive things that have been accomplished. The country has drafted a constitution. It's ratified a constitution. They have held an election and elected freely a government. Twelve million Iraqis went out to vote. That is impressive. They have a stake in the success of that situation. The schools are open. The hospitals are open. They have a stock market. They have a free press.

Now you put all that on a scale against the fact that there is violence, and sectarian violence -- and there is -- and that people are being killed and Muslims are being killed by violent, extremist Muslims. And it's important to know that that's what's happening over there.

When our reporters can't even provide the good with the bad and the context when they have a transcript of what Rumsfeld said, how can we honestly expect our reporters to have any chance of reporting on a war when they oppose the war; don't understand the military, history, or warfare; rely on educated English-speaking Iraqis who are often former Sunnis Baathists; and rarely leave the Green Zone?

And this also addresses why I think all the calls to "admit mistakes" so we can move on to win are hokum. Any admission of failure to succeed as we wish will be (and was in this case) portrayed as an admission of total failure and a reason to just give up and get out.

It is important to know what is going on in Iraq. Sadly, most Americans really don't know. But we must fight with the press we have and not with the press we wish we had.