Article

2004-05-20 Iraq-Jordan

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Posted by tipper 2004-05-20 19:00|| || Front Page|| [5 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Wow. Dead on. And very depressing.

Posted by The Doctor 2004-05-20 7:13:04 PM|| 2004-05-20 7:13:04 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 Yeah, the media is the problem. Ignorant people spouting half-baked opinions. I find most of them indistinquishable from Michael Moore (but slimmer with better haircuts).

Posted by Phil B 2004-05-20 7:24:08 PM|| 2004-05-20 7:24:08 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 Actually, I think this is wrong. If we had responded fast to the situation in Fallujah, the troops would have been going into an ambush by a 2-3 brigade-sized force, and not very well prepared for it. Cordoning, sectioning, and sweep was the correct response.

No matter WHAT we do, Al Jazeera is going to report that we have been defeated, but cruelly massacred women and children along the way. Even if we could produce the sort of super-rapid force that Col. Peters is suggesting.

There is no easy, convenient, technological or logistical solution to the situation we're in, where the enemy hides behind women and children. And I think it's a mistake to look for one.

What we need to do is to stop pretending that the other side's terrorist tactics mean they are right and we are wrong; we also have to stop pretending that the press' approval of such tactics means anything else than that they are a bunch of terrorist sympathizers. And the administration needs to say this.

We need a way of making the liberals face reality, that supporting al-qaeda-affiliated insurgents whose main source of support is extorted from the civilian populace under fear of their own deaths and the deaths of their families, isn't very "liberal," as they usually think of it.

Posted by Phil Fraering 2004-05-20 7:25:06 PM|| [http://newsfromthefridge.typepad.com] 2004-05-20 7:25:06 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 Phil, I think this strategy, as applied in Falluja, would not mean immediately rushing in. Instead it would mean taking our time to come up with a plan (like we did) and then executing a quick, massive, decisive operation that would be over in 3 days, not one that could drag on for weeks while the press assault gathered steam and momentum. Sure we would get pounded in the press anyway, but by acting with overwhelming, extremely rapid force we could have accomplished our military objective and have something that made the press criticism a reasonable price to pay. Instead we just got the criticism, without stamping out the insurgents. I agree with your final point, but I'm not sure how it can be achieved.

Posted by Sludj 2004-05-20 7:31:09 PM|| 2004-05-20 7:31:09 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 No the problem is our own leadership who refuse to fight the battle in the media. A few videos of the 'insurgents' using human shields of shooting civilians in the back (if that really happened -- I am beginning to have my doubts) would have turned public opinion around.

Instead we get dry and boring press briefings from the CPA. If they had shown a few videos then they would have been free to take a much more aggressive stance with Fallujah. Instead we get smeared in the media and have to take a kids-glove approach (which simply DOESNT FARKING WORK!).

Posted by CrazyFool 2004-05-20 7:36:41 PM|| 2004-05-20 7:36:41 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 "We've concentrated on critical soldier skills, but ignored the emerging requirements of battle. We've worked on almost everything except accelerating urban combat â because increasing the pace is dangerous and very hard to do."

How do you accelerate urban combat without levelling every building and civilian in sight? There's two components that were needed for a successful outcome in Fallujah: innovation and leadership. Both were missing, for one reason or the other.

Posted by Rafael 2004-05-20 7:47:13 PM|| 2004-05-20 7:47:13 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 There are several threads I could post this against. There are facts and there are interpretations, and while it is possible to separate them, in practice no media outlet does. The current coverage on the Gaza situation is a good example. Interpretation is inseparable from bias and the notion that any media is balanced is not only false it is impossible. Western governments are structurally incapable of directly solving the problem, becuase they have to balance competing interests. Thats what governments do. The solution is to support media that provides the interpretations you want to hear. Rantburg television anyone?

Posted by Phil B 2004-05-20 7:55:46 PM|| 2004-05-20 7:55:46 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 Phil B: Sign me up! We could give Fox a run for their money. (And give DU seizures.)

Posted by Barbara Skolaut 2004-05-20 8:00:41 PM|| 2004-05-20 8:00:41 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 The author is a little off imo. How does one speed up op tempo just to beat the media in urban terrain? I would just cordon off areas and not let them in until 72 hours after actions are over - they don't like it, too fucking bad. No more endangering GI's for their story - freedom of the press (and I'm including any country's press) can be stopped on enemy territory when we are dealing out death on jihadi assholes.

I also agree w/CF, time to go balls out on our media campaign of the truth. I'd like to see the admin and the prez hold more press conferences for the American people to see good footage of what's really going down. More pseudo state's of the union or state of OIF for that matter concentrating solely on what went well and what we are working on by W himself during primetime. A sort of modern fireside chat if you will. But he has to get intimately engaged w/it and hit it hard. The pundits will whine but I think the American people will see why we need to stay in Iraq for now.

Posted by Jarhead 2004-05-20 8:00:57 PM|| 2004-05-20 8:00:57 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 Peters hyperventilates, blames W, and gives excellent advice, but never in the same column. He's a loose cannon, mixing good/bad for publicity and effect. His good is good, and his bad could come from the Kerry camp...I'm thinking multiple personalities

Posted by Frank G 2004-05-20 8:21:24 PM|| 2004-05-20 8:21:24 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 To the guys in general: I probably should have written a second draft of my earlier comment, but I rushed it off. Ironic, I know. I think y'all know what I meant, though.

I think CrazyFool's onto something about the videos.

I also think Phil B's onto something about Rantburg Television; I've been thinking for a while about a Rantburg Radio Show... unfortunately, I know absolutely nothing about radio, so perhaps someone who can actually get through their email deluges could contact James Lileks or Hugh Hewitt for advice.

OTTH: I do appreciate what Lileks wrote last week (?) about talk radio, and one of the advantages of the internet over talk radio is that we only have to write when the spirit takes us, and if we only have two hours of decent material in a week we don't have to fill the remaining thirteen hours the way some talk radio hosts do.

On the fourth hand: perhaps some sort of internet software could be used to bring together the rantburg editors in a wide-area "virtual studio."

Posted by Phil Fraering 2004-05-20 9:00:22 PM|| [http://newsfromthefridge.typepad.com] 2004-05-20 9:00:22 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 Oh, and Jarhead managed to say precisely what I had tried to say earlier but screwed up. Thanks.

Posted by Phil Fraering 2004-05-20 9:01:09 PM|| [http://newsfromthefridge.typepad.com] 2004-05-20 9:01:09 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 The strike fast theme is accurate only if we let it be. If the US has difficulty maintaining the will to stay the course now, less than three years after 9/11, under what circumstance could one possibly expect the US to have the stamina to finish. Sure the main media is partisan, but its the American people's fault. If we are too dumb to recognize the disconnect between national interest and partisan mis-news, then we are a sad lot. Unfortunately, this does not bode well for the good guys.

But it is not over yet, and the American people have a new tool, the internet, that can be used to counter the mis-news. We need to keep writing, keep finding the truth, keep complaining when the real stories are missed, and keep the faith. These are dark days, but the operation in Iraq has not been easy in the best of days. Since when is it supposed to be easy? It didn't look too easy at Iwo Jima. Stay focused and keep writing, and the people can help win in a way that we never thought possible.

Posted by Jake 2004-05-20 9:02:14 PM|| 2004-05-20 9:02:14 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 under what circumstance could one possibly expect the US to have the stamina to finish.

After a couple more 9-11s. Maybe.

Posted by Rafael 2004-05-20 9:08:08 PM|| 2004-05-20 9:08:08 PM|| Front Page Top

#15
The answer is simple. The hostile and biased media personnel need to become regular victims of collateral damage. Particularly the AlJizz and the
CBSABCNBCCNNMSNBCAPBBCNYTLAT ETC.

Posted by Analog Roam 2004-05-20 9:09:35 PM|| 2004-05-20 9:09:35 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 Raphael may be right, or it may be a terrifically worse stike on a US or European city. But I tend to think Jake is right. We get caught up in the sensational daily news stories too, but you really can't get an accurate picture of the forrest focusing on individual trees. We have 135K troops in Iraq, and on a good day we read stories of about 100 of them, and only about the trouble spots. "We need to keep writing, keep finding the truth, keep complaining when the real stories are missed, and keep the faith." There may be half the people in this country hoping we lose and 90% of the media. We need to help keep people focused.

Posted by Sam 2004-05-20 9:28:45 PM|| 2004-05-20 9:28:45 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 The right way to do this is to make the libreral media a laughingstock. A weekly TV show in which Dennis Miller roasted one show or at most three shows, like the screw ups on Meet the Press last week. Make people laugh. They like it. Make people laugh at the pompous in the Media. They don't like it.

Posted by Mr. Davis 2004-05-20 9:42:38 PM|| 2004-05-20 9:42:38 PM|| Front Page Top

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