Good News From Iraq That You Won't Get From The MSM
Max Boot has this observation in his 7/17 post on CommentaryMagazine.com:
You don’t hear much about Anbar Province anymore. That’s because this area, once the scene of the heaviest fighting in Iraq, has turned remarkably quiet of late. Attacks are down 80 percent since last year. If there is any cause for optimism in Iraq this is it: If an area as troubled as Anbar could be turned around so quickly, then no part of Iraq can truly be said to be hopeless. Yet much hard work remains to be done to consolidate the gains that have recently been made. I asked Colonel John Charlton, commander of the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division, whom I visited in April, to provide an update for contentions readers on what is happening in the provincial capital, Ramadi. His emailed response follows:
Gee, bet you haven't read anything like that from the defeatists at the New York Times and our own barely adequate cat-box-liner, the LA Times.
Let's see:
- Going from 30-35 al Qaeda attacks per day in Ramadi now down to one or less.
- A city government that didn't exist this last April is now providing "essential services".
- Transformers and power lines being repaired, bombed out sewers being fixed, rubble removed.
- Judicial system being rebuilt, judges hearing cases, "rule of law" reestablished.
- The city's economic system being rebuilt, small businesses given grants.
- Communities being stabilized, supporting ever more cooperation from the citizens against al Qaeda.
Nope . . . haven't read any of this in the LAT, that's for sure. God forbid that we should ever get any good news from Iraq. That would make the Democrats' and the MSM's constant caterwauling seem a bit disingenuous, don't ya think? And, how about that little "all-night exhibition" by our esteemed Senate last eve., where once again a measure to force a hasty retreat from Iraq via amendment to the defense authorization bill couldn't make it past cloture -- missed it by eight votes -- with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) pandering to the MoveOn.orgies, Deaniacs and Kossites with his pathetic, defeatist plea:
"End this filibuster[.] Stop blocking a vote on this crucial war-ending amendment.... We can make this the first day of ending the war."
Now, if you've got that constant cravin' for more Iraq info that you most likely will never get from the MSM, read the transcript of Hugh Hewitt's lengthy interview with General David Petraeus.
If you haven't had enough "encouragement" by now, then read about our capture of the al Qaeda in Iraq's highest ranking Iraqi. Yeah, the MSM covered this one -- how could they not? Still, the LA Times staffer, Tina Susman, views this through her BDS filter and notes:
The announcement comes as President Bush steps up rhetoric linking Al Qaeda to the war in Iraq, even though it had no substantial presence here until after the U.S. invasion in March 2003. Critics of the president say he is attempting to make the link between Al Qaeda, which was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, and the Iraqi conflict to generate support for the Iraq war.
Of course, the Times also needs to end their article on "getting" the number one Iraqi al Qaeda with a current U.S. body count. Lefties . . .
[Cross posted at Okie on the Lam]