Here We Go Again

The media knows nothing of war or military history. With few exceptions, they blew Iraq War coverage, thinking it unwinnable until we won (somehow, they have no idea how). Now they are doing it with Afghanistan War coverage.

I saw a recent news article noting that enemy attacks are up over year-ago levels. No doubt. But I will bet that two things account for this--one, we have more troops in Afghanistan going after the enemy more aggressively. That alone, I bet is a big part. We are escalating the war. What else would you expect in the short run? Would you say that Allied casualties in France during June 1944 compared to June 1943 proves the Allies were losing to the Nazis? Well, if you attended a prestigious journalism school, you probably would. But I digress somewhat.

Second, while I haven't seen statistics lately, I'll bet that most of the "attacks" that reporters rely on come from NATO statistics, and that the vast majority of those "attacks" will consist of IED detonations or detections. That's how we counted "attacks" in Iraq. Remember, too, that we discover most IEDs before they go off.

Statistics are a lovely thing. But you have to understand what is being measured to have a clue on analyzing them. To say that they prove we are losing is idiotic.