As we have long known, seen demonstrated over and over and over again, the soldiers actually in Iraq almost universally say the situation is much better than the press usually shows us, and almost universally are glad that they're doing what they're doing.
Another thing I've noticed is that every time a congressional delegation goes over there, most of them come back with very positive things to say, and almost invariably acknowledge that while it's still a struggle, it's much better than people think it is. Interstingly, the Christian Science Monitor notes that a third of Congress has now visited Iraq, and a majority who do come back voicing stronger support for the effort than before they left.
No surprise to those of us who've actually been reading what military bloggers in Iraq, or military bloggers who have returned from Iraq, or what Iraqi bloggers who actually live in Iraq, have to say. But it's nice to see the press and the Congress catching up to the people on the ground (and with the webloggers).
As usual, our greatest enemy here at home is irresponsible and slanted news coverage. Kudos to the CSM for going out of their way to notice a little more of the truth.
(Via Resurrection Song.)
* Update * In a related vein, I liked this piece by Lt. Col. Scot S. Seitz in Iraq from Strategypage.* Update 2 * Bob Jones, in the comments, notes that the Seitz memo is probably faked, because there are multiple versions of this thing floating around. I'm a bit disappointed in the StrategyPage folks for not being a bit more careful about what they reprint.
When Hillary Clinton went to the Middle East and visited she went to Kuwait, right? Not Iraq. I wonder if her fanitical opinions would have changed should she have actually seen things with her own eyes where it was happening.
However... that still does not excuse Bush for picking up that platter with the turkey on it. How dare he pose for a photo op and not even know there was a camera there! It's Bush's fault!
Oh... she did go to Iraq. Well... I guess it goes to show that even after being presented with clear-cut, solid evidence people can still be blind.
"Thoughtless reporters kill soldiers."
Very well put, Ara, and quite indisputably true.
Glad you've seen the light.
The only light I see is the one coming from you burning the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
:^)
I'm just saying.
Well at least he is doing something useful with it unlike so many in the past Ara. ;-)
Anyway what I wanted to say is that I knew it was better than what most reported but had no idea that it was as good as is reported on the strategypage link that Dean had.
Quote: "Over 60,000 Iraqis now provide security to their fellow citizens."
That is amazing to me. I dont know of anything else to say except its amazing. I mean just a few weeks ago there was a talking head on the Comunist News Network talking about how nearly all of them had quit from the police force and armed services etc.
Just goes to show you that a little digging can go a long way.
Kudos Dean.
That "kudos" of course was for finding the Sgt.'s article not for the whole burning of the first ammendment thing. That is awful. ;-)
Yes of course, Ara. Criticizing the press is a threat to the 1st amendment. That makes so much sense! Brilliant!
"Thoughtless reporters kill soldiers."
"Thoughtless reporters kill soldiers."
When you talk like that, Dean my good friend, you are not "criticizing" anyone. Our nation has laws against murder. Your declaration amounts to a grave and solemn accusation. It is divisive, misinformed and (if anyone really took you seriously) could be extremely destructive.
Ara,
Any distortion of reality can kill. The press in Muslim lands keeps repeating the blood libel and Protocol canards. Their thoughtless reporters are killing Jews. The power of the pen IS greater than the power of the sword because it is the pen which enables us to command so many swords. The Ayatollah Khomeini took over Iran using cassette tapes of his speeches. Then he made teenagers armed with sticks charge machine guns. The first amendment is (wonderfully) so much more dangerous than the second.
"Thoughtless reporters kill soldiers" is so much more pithy than "Information is power. The biases and misrepresentations in your stories can result in people's deaths. Please work hard to tell the truth."
Slogans are supposed to be pithy.
Yours,
Wince
Some observations from a retired U.S. Army officer who spent a good deal of time in Vietnam and, later, in various Cold War endeavors.
Without getting into the merits of the Vietnam experience, the fact is the media became hysterical after Tet and any notion of "fair and balanced" reporting went by the wayside. There are tons of examples of this sort of thinking in the mainstream media today. Reporters are like flies. We just live with them. And there's nothing wrong with the slogan, "Thoughtless reporters kill soldiers." Reporters live by the First Amendment and they just have to put up with the fallout.
The First Amendment is sacrosanct and any suggestion by military personnel or anyone else that the press should be muzzled in any way is ultimately un-American.
The executive branch and its congressional supporters will invariably spin war and other national security news in the most favorable light possible.
Human nature being what it is, career military personnel will tend to cast the most favorable light possible on the war in which they are involved.
Finally, I would also note that, inasmuch as serving military officers are supposed to be apolitical to a fault, I found a couple of sentences in the marine colonel's mostly excellent letter to the troops to be out of bounds. These were his references to the "Bush administration." I guess he forgot that the Congress—and through them, the American people—is funding and otherwise making all of these good deeds possible. Don't get me wrong. These are good deeds—and they need more publicity—but they're made possible by a whole lot more than the "Bush administration." He should have written, "the American people." Believe me, we don't want our military cheerleading for any particular administration.
Some problems with this Seitz note:
1. At least three versions are being circulated each with changes in the text-including mentions of Bush, Democrats, and Congress that vary from note to note.
2. All postings are attributed originally to anonymous sources with no traceable last name or e-mail addresses. They are simply listed as a Corpsman, Margaret, Andea, a friend in the military, etc.
3. The note has two diifferent posting dates in different versions. It has two different signatures("Scot S. Seitz" and just "CO").
4. The MAW1 and MWSS171 are not now, and have not been, in Iraq during this war. They are committed in Japan and Okinawa as a response force to North Korea.
5. Almost all distribution has been on internet and weblog sites that are right wing and not by the national press, primarily because no verified record of the e-mail has been certified by any party, including Scot S. Seitz.
6. It appears that there are discrepancies in the "successes" listed including Iraqis trained, schools opened,etc. Many of the factors listed are not directly available to a MWSS CO, especially one 3000 miles away.
This note illustrates the weaknesses of weblogs for such "news" items, especially in reporting of sources and cross-checking for accuracy. Such notes can be created out of whole cloth and progressively modified by later posters like playing "Pass It On" at a party. They are simply one form of propaganda and little more.
BJ
Oh, the Seitz memo illustrates no such thing. If you bother following the link, you'll find that Strategypage is a professional, commercial publication, not a weblog. It's not even particularly "right wing," either.
Most of what the Seitz memo talks about, furthermore, has been information that's been published in sources such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and are things that plenty of people serving over there would be able to confirm, whether they were directly involved or not.
Furthermore, the great strength of weblogs is the fact-checking that the review process provided. Your very ability to point out that the Seitz memo may be fake illustrates the strength of this medium better than anything could. If you can verify that the memo is faked, then I'll post an update--when's the last time a newspaper editor or newscaster promised to do that for you?
Because ferreting out the the story is so much fun, I think I have found an interesting FOURTH version. It is from the Merchant Marine Academy alumni site at:
http://quarterdeck.maritime.edu/pipermail/alumnitalk/2003-December/000136.html
I reprint it in its entirety. I will note that it is substantially different from any of the previous three versions found, and sounds, well, more credible. As Lt. Col. Seitz is a typical bright young Marine Officer, I found it difficult to credit a note so chock full of political refrences to the Bush Administration, Congressional obstruction, in some versions direct complaints about Democrats, the resistance of the press to report the " good news, and such phrases as "President Bush has not faltered!"
This version sounds more credible and typical of an apolitical address by a commander to his troops. Perhaps it was the original source for the other three versions which were distributed so widely on the web, usually at Right Wing sites. It is a good lesson in what can happen to a simple news report in the hands of people that have an ax to grind and no journalistic standards on cross-checking facts, sources, and multiple viewpoints.
One must admit this one might be the ur-document. That is, if it has any validity at all-which after four known versions, MUST be checked before anyone can accept it as a true communication. If it be a true document, then Lt. Col. Seitz has been very badly used by some RW political "editors."
From: Seitz LtCol Scot S
To: 1MAW MWSS171 All Personnel
Cc: Fenstermacher Col Stephen M; Kirkpatrick LtCol Stephen F; Chase
LtCol Eric T
Subject: ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Marines and Sailors,
As we approach the end of the year I think it is important
to share a few thoughts about what you've accomplished directly,
in some cases, and indirectly in many others. I am speaking about what
each of you has contributed by wearing the uniform, because the fact that
you
wear the uniform contributes 100% to the capability of the nation to send
a few onto the field to execute national policy. As you read about these
achievements you are a part of I would call your attention to two things:
1. This is good news that hasn't been fit to print or report on TV.
2. It is much easier to point out the errors a man makes when he makes the
tough decisions, rarely is the positive as aggressively pursued.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1...
... the first battalion of the new Iraqi Army has graduated and is on
active duty.
... over 60,000 Iraqis now provide security to their fellow citizens.
... nearly all of Iraq's 400 courts are functioning.
... the Iraqi judiciary is fully independent.
... on Monday, October 6 power generation hit 4,518 megawatts-exceeding
the prewar average.
... all 22 universities and 43 technical institutes and colleges are open,
as are nearly all primary and secondary schools.
... by October 1, Coalition forces had rehab-ed over 1,500 schools - 500
more than scheduled.
... teachers earn from 12 to 25 times their former salaries.
... all 240 hospitals and more than 1200 clinics are open.
... doctors salaries are at least eight times what they were under Saddam.
... pharmaceutical distribution has gone from essentially nothing to 700
tons in May to a current total of 12,000 tons.
... the Coalition has helped administer over 22 million vaccinations to
Iraq's children.
... a Coalition program has cleared over 14,000 kilometers of Iraq's 27,000
kilometers of weed-choked canals which now irrigate tens of thousands of
farms. This project has created jobs for more than 100,000 Iraqi men and
women.
... we have restored over three-quarters of prewar telephone services and
over two-thirds of the potable water production.
... there are 4,900 full-service telephone connections. We expect 50,000 by
year-end.
... the wheels of commerce are turning. From bicycles to satellite dishes
to cars and trucks, businesses are coming to life in all major cities and
towns.
... 95 percent of all prewar bank customers have service and first-time
customers are opening accounts daily.
... Iraqi banks are making loans to finance businesses.
... the central bank is fully independent.
... Iraq has one of the worlds most growth-oriented investment and banking
laws.
... Iraq has a single, unified currency for the first time in 15 years.
... satellite TV dishes are legal.
... foreign journalists aren't on 10-day visas paying mandatory and
extortionate fees to the Ministry of Information for "minders" and other
government spies.
... there is no Ministry of Information.
... there are more than 170 newspapers.
... you can buy satellite dishes on what seems like every street corner.
... foreign journalists (and everyone else) are free to come and go.
... a nation that had not one single element - legislative, judicial or
executive - of a representative government, now does.
... in Baghdad alone residents have selected 88 advisory councils.
Baghdad's
first democratic transfer of power in 35 years happened when the city
council elected its new chairman.
... today in Iraq chambers of commerce, business, school and professional
organizations are electing their leaders all over the country.
... 25 ministers, selected by the most representative governing body in
Iraq's history, run the day-to-day business of government.
... the Iraqi government regularly participates in international events.
Since July the Iraqi government has been represented in over two dozen
international meetings, including those of the UN General Assembly, the Arab
League, the World Bank and IMF and, today, the Islamic Conference Summit.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs today announced that it is reopening over 30
Iraqi embassies around the world.
... Shia religious festivals that were all but banned, aren't.
... for the first time in 35 years, in Karbala thousands of Shiites
celebrate the pilgrimage of the 12th Imam.
... the Coalition has completed over 13,000 reconstruction projects, large
and small, as part of a strategic plan for the reconstruction of Iraq.
... Uday and Queasy are dead - and no longer feeding innocent Iraqis to the
zoo lions, raping the young daughters of local leaders to force cooperation,
torturing Iraq's soccer players for losing games, or murdering critics.
... children aren't imprisoned or murdered when their parents disagree with
the government.
... political opponents aren't imprisoned, tortured, executed, maimed, or
are forced to watch their families die for disagreeing with Saddam.
... millions of longsuffering Iraqis no longer live in perpetual terror.
... Saudis will hold municipal elections.
... Qatar is reforming education to give more choices to parents.
... Jordan is accelerating market economic reforms.
... the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded for the first time to an Iranian -- a
Muslim woman who speaks out with courage for human rights, for democracy and
for peace.
... Saddam is gone. (NOW CAPTURED!!)
... Iraq is free.
... Yet, little or none of this information has been published by the Press
corps that prides itself on bringing you all the news that's important.
Iraq under US lead control has come further in six months than Germany did
in seven years or Japan did in nine years following WWII. Military deaths
from fanatic Nazi's, and Japanese numbered in the thousands and continued
for over three years after WWII victory was declared.
It took the US over four months to clear away the twin tower debris, let
alone attempt to build something else in its place.
Taking everything into consideration, even the unfortunate loss of our
brothers and sisters in this conflict, do you think anyone else in the world
could have accomplished as much as the United States in so short a period of
time?
These are things worth writing about. Get the word out. Write to someone you
think may be able to influence our Congress or the press to tell the story.
Above all, be proud that you are a part of this historical precedent.
God Bless you all. Have a great Holiday.
Semper Fidelis,
CO
Well, that's good enough for me.
I'll post an update.
Dean,
I believe you have done a service to Lt. Col. Seitz.
What I find most curious is that, other than a gentleman that identified himself as a retired officer, so many people, including "Military Experts", failed to spot the obvious problem in the note of a US Officer, while in service, commenting favorably and unfavorably on the political aspects of our government.
This overlooks a fine tradition, going back to Washington himself, of an apolitical military that serves us ALL, and not the political ends of any given political group.
Certainly, after an officer is no longer serving he may express his political views, and act on them, just as any citizen, but while in uniform he is studiously apolitical, at least publicly.
It is one of many things that seperates us from some banana republics with semi-annual coups, and actions like the "Disappeared Ones" in Argentina and Chile.
This should be celebrated and strenously protected from such base politicking as the corrupted version of the note attempted.
I would also say that our press with its fairly reasonable standards for validating reports(and as we saw recently at the NYT-firing those discovered to abuse these standards) are less to be criticized than the people who attempted to make Lt. Col. Seitz' note "Better."
BJ
Of course, you could always try to get in touch with "Seitz LtCol Scot S" himself and ask him if he said it:
http://www.emailourmilitary.com/index.htm
($2 fee to sign up)