Sameness … Bleak
There’s the sameful bleakness of it all. But first, some good news out of Iraq. WSJ:
BAGHDAD — U.S. and Iraqi military officials said violence in Iraq has decreased significantly in recent weeks to levels not seen in four years.
That offers some hope to officials that Iraqi security services may be making gains, following recent Iraqi-led military campaigns in Basra in the south, Baghdad’s Sadr City, and Mosul in the north.
Now, via erstwhile Heraldista Matt J. Duffy, some people who have had such a hard time figuring it out, they’ve stopped covering it. Why? My old pal Duffy quotes the American Journalism Review:
• With no solutions in sight, with no light at the end of the tunnel, war fatigue has become a factor. Over the years, a bleak sameness has settled into accounts of suicide bombings and brutal sectarian violence. Insurgents fighting counterinsurgents are hard to translate to an American audience.
Funny, I hadn’t noticed that the major American news organization were trying very hard. OK, at all. I hadn’t considered the solutionless same-itude of the bleakness. I thought they just covered suicide bombings because they can do it from the hotel with local stringers.
But in fairness, maybe the problem lies in the notion of trying to translate insurgents fighting counterinsurgents. Maybe they should try covering counterinsurgents fighting insurgents. That’s our side, after all. Might translate better to an American audience.
OK, enough fun with semantics. Good thing the professional soldiers of the United States military hasn’t let the bleak same old get it down, or things might be a heck of a lot bleaker.
Here’s Ardolino with something different, brighter: LA Times notices that Iraqis have had it with militias.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:14 pm on Tuesday, May 27, 2008
3 Responses to “Sameness … Bleak”
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May 27th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
The MSM is depressed, the war is getting to be useless for Bush Bashing.
May 28th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Good news of any kind no longer exists. Nothing must be allowed to interfere with the election of The Messiah.
May 28th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
It sounds like you want them to lthe Baghdad press corps to leave the hotel bar and do some actual work. Ain’t gonna happen, pal.