The Media and Congress

What I wouldn't give to be a member of our esteemed media or congress, because if I were, I would get to write articles like this: Report: Iraqi force training producing 'mixed results'.
This has got to be a joke. Like this quote: "The bottom line is that after three months of studying the U.S. effort . .. we cannot assess the operational capability of these forces," the report said. "We are actually left with more questions than answers." Of course you are - I still don't even know what the hell I'm doing and I've been here over 2 months! I can assure you that 3 months would not be close to the amount of time required to write a congressional report. "And we've seen over the last few days and weeks that they are not even operating in the lead." Wow, you've seen that over the last few days! Great job - so statistically speaking, those few days with one or two small size units are representative of the entire Iraqi Security Force (ISF) and Army (IA)?

What I get from this article is that the congressional "subcommittee" and the Department of Defense are having a little power struggle and so to emphasize this a report is published criticizing the DoD. I am by no means saying that I believe the ISF or IA are ready to take full control. However, that doesn't seem to be the focal point of this article and that's what pisses me off. Instead of highlighting all the negative opinions that we are so tired of hearing repeated by congress over and over, why not list some factual stats that illustrate where the forces are and where they need to go? Instead, this media article, like so many others, seems to be written to further fuel anti-war sentiment and public opinion. But hey, that's what we're over here trying to protect. The right of the media to publish biased articles and fuel public opinion. It could be worse - our government could be controlling the media and influencing everything they write . . . (sinister laugh)

If you are looking for a better written article, read this one about the ongoing operation in Diyala. In this now volatile province, members of the 1920 revolution brigades, once bitter enemies of the US military and Iraqi government, have become unlikely allies to US and Iraqi military, even though the majority of the Iraqi Army there are Shia. This same "about-face" is why we hear so little about Anbar Province and Fallujah lately, and is something I've touched on in previous posts. The people of Iraq are sick of living in fear and are starting to recognize the real enemy among them.

Feel free to comment or disagree with anything I have written, and remember, the views expressed here are my own personal ramblings and do not reflect the opinions of the US Army or the our government!