MSM Sign of the Times?
This morning’s London Times lead editorial — The Petraeus Curve – boldly goes where few “mainstream media” news outlets dare, stating flat out that serious success in Iraq is not being recognized as it should be.
Is no news good news or bad news? In Iraq, it seems good news is deemed no news. There has been striking success in the past few months in the attempt to improve security, defeat al-Qaeda sympathisers and create the political conditions in which a settlement between the Shia and the Sunni communities can be reached. This has not been an accident but the consequence of a strategy overseen by General David Petraeus in the past several months…
Moreover, The Times recognizes that the “surge” is much more than the number of boots on the ground — it is “what” they are doing that is showing results.
While summarised by the single word “surge” his efforts have not just been about putting more troops on the ground but also employing them in a more sophisticated manner. This drive has effectively broken whatever alliances might have been struck in the past by terrorist factions and aggrieved Sunnis. Cities such as Fallujah, once notorious centres of slaughter, have been transformed in a remarkable time…
Continuing, the editorial rightly cautions that this success does not necessarily guarantee that past difficulties are history.
A weakened al-Qaeda will be tempted to attempt more spectacular attacks to inflict substantial loss of life in an effort to prove that it remains in business. Although the tally of car bombings and improvised explosive devices has fallen back sharply, it would only take one blast directed at an especially large crowd or a holy site of unusual reverence for the headlines about impending civil war to be allowed another outing. The Government headed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has become more proactive since the summer, but must immediately take advantage of these favourable conditions…
And in conclusion.
Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic have to appreciate that Iraq is no longer, as they thought, an exercise in damage limitation but one of making the most of an opportunity. The instinct of too many people is that if Iraq is going badly we should get out because it is going badly and if it is getting better we should get out because it is getting better. This is a catastrophic miscalculation. Iraq is getting better. That is good, not bad, news.
Related
Not Cricket – Jules Crittenden’s Forward Movement
In Iraq, a Lull or Hopeful Trend? – Washington Post
Iraqi Civilian Deaths Plunge – Los Angeles Times
