MSM Wants US To Lose The War

[Annie]

whether on the ground or just here at home:

http://www.mudvillegazette.com/archives/003887.html

In the Lead
Greyhawk

In the wake of President Bush's speech at Annapolis it appears a battalion of journalists has been dispatched with marching orders to discredit his claims of progress in Iraq. We applaud the efforts of true fact checkers - those who keep our politicians honest. Unfortunately, most of the current efforts of the media "quick reaction force" are a discredit to those who do consider non-partisan efforts at bringing the truth to the American public an important service.

Frequent commenter Wilson Kolb brings to our attention one such example. Under the headline "Embedded TIME Reporter: Bush Lied In Speech Yesterday About Iraqi Security Forces" the political website Think Progress details what they believe is an example of fraud in the President's speech.

First, here's the passage they question:

The progress of the Iraqi forces is especially clear when the recent anti-terrorist operations in Tal Afar are compared with last year's assault in Fallujah. In Fallujah, the assault was led by nine coalition battalions made up primarily of United States Marines and Army -- with six Iraqi battalions supporting them. The Iraqis fought and sustained casualties. Yet in most situations, the Iraqi role was limited to protecting the flanks of coalition forces, and securing ground that had already been cleared by our troops. This year in TAL Afar, it was a very different story.

The assault was primarily led by Iraqi security forces -- 11 Iraqi battalions, backed by five coalition battalions providing support. Many Iraqi units conducted their own anti-terrorist operations and controlled their own battle space -- hunting for enemy fighters and securing neighborhoods block-by-block. To consolidate their military success, Iraqi units stayed behind to help maintain law and order -- and reconstruction projects have been started to improve infrastructure and create jobs and provide hope.

One of the Iraqi soldiers who fought in TAL Afar was a private named Tarek Hazem. This brave Iraqi fighter says, "We're not afraid. We're here to protect our country. All we feel is motivated to kill the terrorists." Iraqi forces not only cleared the city, they held it. And because of the skill and courage of the Iraqi forces, the citizens of TAL Afar were able to vote in October's constitutional referendum.​

And here's the statement Time magazine reporter Michael Ware made to CNN's Anderson Cooper - which they feel effectively debunks the above:

COOPER: You know this is not one of the shows where we take sides. I really try to just look at facts on the ground, and the President in his speech talked about the battle of Tal Afar. And in his speech today, he said that it was led primarily by Iraqi security forces, eleven Iraqi battalions, backed by five coalition battalions providing support. He used this as compared to the battle of Fallujah as an example of how much better the Iraqis are doing. Earlier, I talked to Time Magazine’s Michael Ware, the Baghdad bureau chief who was embedded during the entire battle. I want to play you what he said about the Iraqi units he saw.

WARE: I was in that battle from the very beginning to the very end. I was with Iraqi units right there on the front line as they were battling with al Qaeda. They were not leading. They were being led by the U.S. green beret special forces with them. Green berets who were following an American plan of attack who were advancing with these Iraqi units as and when they were told to do so by the American battle planners. The Iraqis led nothing.
​

First, note that Ware acknowledges the placement of Iraqi forces in the battle - "I was with Iraqi units right there on the front line as they were battling with al Qaeda" - this statement is all that's needed to confirm the President's account. Anyone thinking the President meant anything other than that by "in the lead" is fooling themselves.

But Ware's problem is with the Special Forces advisors; their presence indicates the Iraqis aren't ready to go it alone. But the "argument" boils down to this: the President says progress is being made towards a goal where Iraqi forces can carry the battle themselves, and his detractors counter that it isn't true - because they haven't yet reached that goal.

But let's really "think" about "progress", because Ware (perhaps unwittingly) confirmed the other quoted paragraphs of the President's speech too.

Three years ago Iraqi forces didn't exist.

Two years ago they broke and ran at every opportunity - this is certainly true of the April '04 battle in Fallujah, when one Baghdad-based Iraqi unit mutinied on the road to Fallujah and refused to join the battle (see Bing West's outstanding book No True Glory : A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah - highly recomended.)

Last November they fought in Fallujah - clearing and holding immediately behind the front line US troops, and none have broken and run since.

Now as the clear and hold operations extend to other towns in al Anbar those units are in the lead. As Ware notes, they have Special Forces advisors with them, calling the shots, directing, etc. That is why the advisors are there. To assume they would not do so is patently ridiculous.

His argument that they were not "in the lead" because they had Special Forces advisors with them "right there on the front line as they were battling with al Qaeda" is equally ridiculous - and an insult to the courage and resolve of Iraqi troops and the Special Forces. No one - certainly not the president (who, if you want to be mince words, actually said "The assault was primarily led by Iraqi security forces") is claiming the Iraqis are ready to go without our help. This is the whole reason we're still there. Ware has invented his own definition of what the President meant by "in the lead" - and it's not one the President shares. How can I be sure? Because as the President has made clear, when the Iraqis are ready to go without Special Forces advisors is when we come home - victorious.

Ware didn't mean to confirm everything the President said - but in fact he did. That's the danger of attacking rapidly without a well thought out plan.

Posted by Greyhawk at 04:44 PM

And another:

http://www.mudvillegazette.com/archives/003888.html

Forward Progress on Haifa Street


I can imagine a scenario where various media outlets "divvied up" the President's speech at Annapolis, each claming a critical passage to do their best to discredit. This didn't happen, of course, but it's not hard to picture them printing the speech, cutting it into sections, and throwing them into a hat from which they each drew their assignments. CNN/Time-Warner got the part about Iraqi forces taking the lead in Tal Afar, and the very next paragraph in the speech went to the LA Times.

Here's that paragraph:

As Iraqi forces increasingly take the lead in the fight against the terrorists, they're also taking control of more and more Iraqi territory. At this moment, over 30 Iraqi Army battalions have assumed primary control of their own areas of responsibility. In Baghdad, Iraqi battalions have taken over major sectors of the capital -- including some of the city's toughest neighborhoods. Last year, the area around Baghdad's Haifa Street was so thick with terrorists that it earned the nickname "Purple Heart Boulevard." Then Iraqi forces took responsibility for this dangerous neighborhood -- and attacks are now down.​

Here's the headline the LA Times came up with: Baghdad's Haifa Still No Easy Street
Violence has ebbed on the road once known as Purple Heart Boulevard since Iraqi soldiers took over, but there is still cause for anxiety.

And here's their thesis:

The potholes have been filled, and the twisted car chasses are gone. On Thursday, Iraqi soldiers drove by in pickup trucks and conducted foot patrols without incident.

But a brief visit to Haifa Street also provides a reminder that "safe" remains a relative concept in Iraq.

Then Times Staff Writer Ashraf Khalil drew the short straw, and had to confirm it.

Note this paragraph from the story:

Haifa Street was developed in large part during the reign of Saddam Hussein. He handed out apartments for free to Baath Party cadres, intelligence officers and hundreds of Palestinian and Syrian immigrants — which meant by definition that almost every resident was a Hussein loyalist.
​

We'll return to that Times story shortly, but first with that paragraph in mind let's look back at a year on Haifa street.

Last November we "met" SGT Rowe Stayton, US Army, on Haifa street:

An Air Force Academy graduate and former F-15 fighter pilot, then-Major Stayton left the Air National Guard 17 years ago to run his civilian law practice in Denver and rear his six children. But his life changed not long after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when he enlisted in the Arkansas Army National Guard in what he says was an act of patriotism.

Now Sergeant Stayton, 53, is leading three other soldiers young enough to be his sons on an infantry fire team that regularly runs combat patrols in the Haifa Street section of Baghdad, one of the riskiest missions in the Iraqi capital. More than a third of the 119 soldiers in his Guard unit, Company C of the First Battalion, 153rd Infantry Regiment, have been awarded Purple Hearts for being wounded in action since they arrived here in April.

Stayton's unit had the unenviable task of patrolling one of the worst streets in Baghdad. How bad was it?

BAGHDAD, Iraq Dec 19, 2004 — A brazen daylight attack in the heart of Baghdad with rebels executing election workers in cold blood served as a chilling reminder Sunday of the deteriorating security situation in the Iraqi capital with just more than a month before crucial parliamentary elections.

A series pictures taken by an AP photographer show three pistol-wielding gunmen, who had earlier stopped a car carrying the election officials and dragged them into the middle of Haifa Street in the midst of morning traffic.

And while bloggers would question the (ahem) luck of that AP photographer, the pictures would earn a Pulitzer Prize.

Meanwhile, those Arkansas Guardsmen soldiered on, as I discovered in my interview with JR Shultz (Iraq Unplugged)

GH: What was your mission in Iraq?

JR: I was pulled from my squad to join a team of cadre who were responsible for training an Iraqi National Guard unit. At the beginning of our deployment, we were conducting training drills inside the perimeter of our FOB, and by the end we were accompanying elements from the ING unit on operations in the Haifa St. area of Baghdad. I can't speak for any other unit, but these guys made a lot of progress in the year that we worked with them.

Indeed - by February the Iraqis had responsibility for the street. And according to the New York Times, this was Haifa Street in August 2005:

An American-Iraqi military campaign, begun last year to retake the street, seemed to bear fruit as insurgents were captured, killed or driven out of the area. On Feb. 6, the American command handed over a cut of north-central Baghdad, including Haifa Street, to the 1st Brigade, 6th Division, of the Iraqi army.

This transfer made the 1st Brigade the first and only Iraqi army unit to control its own battle space, putting it on the leading edge of the Bush administration's plan to have Iraqi forces take responsibility for the country's security.

The good news for American officials is that the Iraqi troops have not lost ground on Haifa Street. Since the 1st Brigade took control, there have been only three insurgent attacks along the street, and those came in the first three weeks, commanders say.
<...>​

Pro-Iraqi army graffiti has begun to appear on walls that for months had been adorned exclusively with anti-American slogans. Residents now socialize outside their buildings and say they feel safer walking along the street. People who fled their apartments have started to trickle back, and pedestrian and vehicular traffic, while still thin compared with other major thoroughfares, is slowly returning.

Although no one questioned the NY Times report last summer, the President's bold claim that "attacks are now down" has launched an investigation by the LA Times.

Reporter Khalil notes that because of "lasting associations" with the name of the street, the op would be "deep cover":

Still, the name carries lasting associations, and a visit by a Western journalist required an even greater-than-usual level of security planning.

Bringing a translator would be too conspicuous, so my flawed Egyptian-accented Arabic would have to do. No English would be spoken anywhere and no mention made of America, but a guard would accompany me.

But that wouldn't fool the Iraqi security forces:

During the interview with Akram, he took note of my mongrel Arabic, narrowed his eyes, and said: "He's not Egyptian. That's a lie."

Of course, this is exactly what we would hope an Iraqi officer would do to protect this volatile street from visits from al Qaeda, but Khalil fails to give him credit for the catch. Instead he notes cryptically that "For outsiders, though, the dangers remain real."

More from Sgt Akram:

Now, he boasted, his soldiers can sit in coffee shops without fear.

"The Americans with all their heavy weapons couldn't control this area. It took Iraqi minds and experience," said Ali, who complimented the U.S. training they received.

Akram said Iraqi soldiers and residents had since found their comfort level and that soldiers who used to come to work with their uniforms in a bag now hail taxis from outside the base.
<...>
The interview ended on a positive note, with Akram giving us apples for the road. But we left the scene quickly after the driver, who had watched with mounting alarm, called our attention to two dubious figures on the edge of the crowd who were pointing at our cars.

Rattled, our two-car mini-convoy sped off, as the neighborhood started to feel like enemy territory.

Total time spent on Haifa Street: maybe 75 minutes. It felt a lot longer.​

Possible pointing was the most violent act he encountered that day. But check that headline again: "Baghdad's Haifa Still No Easy Street - Violence has ebbed on the road once known as Purple Heart Boulevard since Iraqi soldiers took over, but there is still cause for anxiety."

Indeed. Pointing - that's rude. They used to point at people on Haifa Street last year too:
haifapoint.jpg

No progress at all...


Related post: The Road to Victory.

Posted by Greyhawk at 07:11 PM