News Unfit To Print
More than a week of intensive operations, up to 6,000 troops, often on foot, presenting themselves as targets everywhere, and only two Americans reported killed in the search area as of last night, out of two dozen Americans killed in Iraq in that time. That’s remarkable.
So much heat on al-Qaeda in the Triangle of Death they can’t get a jihadi video out. Hundreds questioned and/or arrested, several large weapons caches seized, a number of suspected insurgents killed in firefights. But mostly, it would appear, al-Qaeda gone to ground … after demanding that the searching stop.
So is anyone on the ground looking seriously at whether, absent as yet the safe return of the abducted soldiers, there is a payoff to this intensive search, something that might be applied elsewhere.
The NYT article cited above discusses the threat of “dismounted IEDs.” “Threat” being the operative word, as the Americans seem to be doing a pretty good job of finding or avoiding the DIEDs. The article buries the mention of improved road conditions in some previously hazardous areas. Evidence the tragic abduction incident is producing a significant side benefit in the disruption of al-Qaeda activity south of Baghdad?
This AP story talks about the strain on the troops involved. Firefights, Humvees hit by IEDs. Walking in fields full of explosives. Appears to suggest walking in fields is related to Humvee hits, though obviously you have to get out of the vehicle if you want to locate missing soldiers. ”The search for the troops who went missing after a May 12 ambush is grinding down U.S. forces already strained by the push to restore calm in and around Baghdad … Still, the military insists it won’t quit until it finds the missing men, or knows what happened to them.” I’m sensing a little AP disapproval in here, though significantly less in this field report than usually found in what’s field from the bureau. No mention of the low death rate in this operation, which is arduous and creating a strain without doubt, but probably not grinding down the troops as much as abandoning their comrades would. But Gamel can’t seem to tell the difference between a company commander and a platoon leader,* so while I applaud her for going into the field, and wish more reporters would, I’m not sure how far we can trust her perceptions or her reporting in general.
Both of the above articles are relatively well done and useful, for what they are. But I’d like to know if there is a dividend and perhaps some lessons about the pros and cons of rapidly launched, intensive sweeps to be learned at a time when there is a high demand for fast results. All-out, brigade-plus sweeps are draining but can they be effective? There has been a barely disguised tendency to view this operation as an excessive exercise in futility, which its primary objective may in fact be. I hope the press will look at unintended results, and I expect the military will. What happens if this is tried in Diyala, for example, where Gen. Mixon was calling for more troops. Particularly if designed as hammer-and-anvil operations, or perhaps more more to the point beater-and-net, to catch them as they run.
Hey, check this out. Here’s an MNF-I press release from yesterday that suggests lower intensity, longer-duration sweeps can disrupt the enemy. I scanned the wires last night and did not see this reported. The Iraq day story by Richard Reid was about 7 U.S. killed, 55 Iraqis found murdered, explosions heard and political setbacks. Nothing about any success. Is this because the AP considers news of successful operations to be bullshit, or otherwise meaningless? Wouldn’t be the first time. But this doesn’t sound like meaningless bullshit to me:
Regimental Combat Team 2 and elements of the Iraqi Army’s 7th Division completed Operation Harris Ba’sil after eight weeks of interdicting and disrupting enemy routes and safe havens outside of the major cities of the Euphrates River valley in western al Anbar province.
The operation, dubbed “Valiant Guardian”, involved nearly 4,000 Marines, Soldiers and Sailors covering most of the 30,000 square miles of RCT-2’s operating area.
“We uncovered over 250 caches, arrested over 250 suspected insurgents and discovered over 100 improvised explosive devices,” said Lt. Col. Michael Manning, operations officer for RCT-2. “We clearly surprised them, the number of caches and detainees attest to that but more importantly, we let the enemy know that they can’t hide from us.”
There’s more at MNF-I. Terrorist safe house destroyed in Baghdad. 20 armed locals rush to aid of Iraq police in Duluiyah … a dead al-Qaeda bigshot’s hometown described as a Sunni insurgent stronghold. That’s pretty impressive. I’m guessing its the local Shiites trying to defend themselves, but who knows. Why can’t I find it in a Google news search?
Meanwhile, This Washington Post article is all over recent American death, but ignores the low numbers in the search area. I thought body counts were established as meaningless in the Vietnam War, but of course that only applies to enemy body counts. WaPo cites a web site, www.iCasualties.org, that slices and dices the number of dead and wounded Americans many different ways, and has links to fabricated nonsense like the Lancet study, but doesn’t appear to have a link to our friend Chuck Simmins and his diligent work totalling the dead terrorists. That doesn’t seem very thorough on the part of WaPo or iCasualties. You’d think all they are interested in is finding evidence of American failure. That would be in keeping with the erroneous assumption that the American death rate in Iraq, extremely low for a war of any significant duration, is in fact a measure of success or failure. Only if all other factors are ignored.
*Gamel refers to Capt. Aaron Bright as a “platoon commander” of “the Bravo Company,” while also refering to him making decisions about several platoons. Which would make him a somewhat high-ranking platoon leader with authority over other platoon leaders and an extraneous definite article. Hard to tell if she’s not getting enough sleep or just doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Again, I respect anyone who goes into the field, but these discrepancies lie in the overall context of what has been for the AP, with a few exceptions, an atrocious record of distortion and pandering to the enemy in Iraq and elsewhere.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 1:36 am on Monday, May 21, 2007
8 Responses to “News Unfit To Print”
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May 21st, 2007 at 4:21 am
The wire services, most of all, are harming our war effort. Reuters hates the US military and AP is almost as bad. I think Bush could have taken them on years ago and hurt their diminished credibility. It’s too late now, they successfully weakened him.
The media reporting on this war is a terrible. The are obsessed with numbers, US numbers and they love stories of misbehavior of US troops. They provide no context, no understanding of what is going on, the big picture.
In fact, the media is just another player on the enemy’s team. Future military studies will examine how to deal wih this media in future wars.
May 21st, 2007 at 10:41 am
Web Reconnaissance for 05/21/2007
A short recon of whats out there that might draw your attention.
May 21st, 2007 at 3:02 pm
The media is the weakest link in our battle against a savvy enemy able to take advantage of what I can only hope is a vast unthinking ignorance, coupled with a remarkable lack of curiosity–as opposed to a vast unconscionable evasion of the facts, coupled with an equally evil choice to side with the enemy. I’m sure it is a little of both, but whatever the cause, the consequences to our efforts are the same, and give the enemy victories that they could never hope to gain on their own.
May 21st, 2007 at 9:29 pm
Maybe AQ should get out of the kitchen if the heat is too hot?
May 21st, 2007 at 11:07 pm
[...] found some here today, written up by Jules Crittenden, so you know it comes with attitude. Hey, check this out. Here’s an MNF-I press release from [...]
May 22nd, 2007 at 3:01 pm
[...] Jules Crittenden reports on all the news in Iraq that doesn’t seem to be fit to print: two Americans killed out of 6000 patrolling a heavily infested area for a [...]
May 22nd, 2007 at 3:59 pm
2007.05.22 Iraq/Iran Roundup
See previous: 2007.05.21 Iraq/Iran Roundup Below the fold: House Majority Leader Confirms Democrats Gave Up on Troop Withdrawal Timetable in Iraq Funding Bill Guardian: Iran Pulling The Insurgent Strings In Iraq The Left’s Iraq Muddle News Unfit To Print
May 23rd, 2007 at 9:30 am
Anti-Media or Anti-Military?
Andi, add this to “What They’re Saying” about the MilBlog Conference. And shame on you for not inviting him. The MilBloggers got an extra boost of attention after the news about the Army’s “crackdown” on blogs, with the overheated claim…