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Iraqi War Reporting & Context of Events

By Denise Best | Related entries in In The News, The War On Terrorism, War

Interesting how analysis, in war as in other matters, can often be more about context and perspective than anything else.

Case in point, reports regarding Iraq War activity in the month of November.

Suicide bombings fell in November to their lowest level in seven months, the American military said Thursday, citing the success of U.S.-Iraqi military operations against insurgent and foreign fighter sanctuaries near the Syrian border.

Positive news that can be seen as tempered by another statistic.

But the trend in Iraq has not resulted in less bloodshed: 85 U.S. troops died during the month, one of the highest tolls since the invasion.

Now does will this figure be interpreted as an illustration that progress isn’t being made by the U.S. in the war effort and withdrawal needs to be hastened?

In Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, the U.S. military played down reports by residents and police of widespread attacks Thursday against American and Iraqi installations in the city. The military said only one rocket-propelled grenade was fired at an observation post, causing no casualties. Insurgents left behind posters and graffiti saying they were members of al-Qaida in Iraq.

Nevertheless, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, a coalition operations officer, warned that al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, will likely step up attacks in the next two weeks to try to disrupt parliamentary elections Dec. 15.

Extremely important point to keep in mind as we inch closer to the December 15th elections date …
There will no doubt be an increase in attacks in a desperate bid by the terror groups to derail the democratic process that is in motion.

It will be easy to cite any such increases in attacks as a further demonstration of misguided policy, but sight must not be lost of the context in which these activities are occurring.

Let’s take care to weigh all the variables, especially over the next few months.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 1st, 2005 and is filed under In The News, The War On Terrorism, War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Iraqi War Reporting & Context of Events”

dougf Says:
December 2nd, 2005 at 8:15 am
LetÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s take care to weigh all the variables, especially over the next few months.

Well one thing is for sure. You will never get a job in the media with an attitude like that.

But on the bright side, losing out on that career possibility would be akin to not be named ‘Pimp Of The Month’.

So I guess it all evens out.
Woker Says:
August 7th, 2006 at 5:28 pm
Good job.

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