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Saturday, May 05, 2007

Unable to Recognize Victory

When you wonder if the press corps is getting Iraq right or wrong, consider Sri Lanka. This article is alarmed at the higher tempo of fighting:

Five years after a cease-fire brought a measure of relief to Sri Lanka, a ferocious ethnic war is again raging between the government dominated by the country's predominantly Buddhist Sinhalese majority and the Tamil Tigers, separatists seeking a homeland for the largely Hindu Tamil minority.


Just by reading the article, you'd get no idea that the Tamils are losing--badly. This increased tempo is caused by the Tamil Tigers breaking and losing while government forces press into territory long held by the Tigers. The talk in the article of hard fighting in the Tamil heartland is because the government can finally drive into this area and has the power to take it from the Tigers.

The press is unable to recognize victory in this war. The Tamils once held autonomous zones, had a navy, plentiful artillery, skilled infantry that outclassed anything the army could field, and used suicide bombings on a large scale.

And now the Tamil Tigers are losing badly. Not that the news will inform you of this simple fact.