#3 Interesting perspective from Max Boot on the Commentary magazine website:
“Kabul Is Shelled by the Taliban” reads the dramatic headline in the Wall Street Journal — a newspaper that is a byword for serious, nonsensationalistic news coverage. Variations appeared in newspapers around the world. From the headline, you would think the capital of Afghanistan was under incessant barrage from enemy artillery — as it was in the 1990s during its civil war. But when you read the actual stories (I wonder how many will actually bother to), a slightly different picture emerges:
Taliban militants fired rockets into AfghanistanÂ’s capital from about 12 miles away before dawn Tuesday. . . . The attack was the first on Kabul in nearly six months, and relatively minor, wounding two people and damaging a few buildings.
So let me get this straight: a handful of militants unleash a few long-range inaccurate rockets that cause little damage — and this is supposed to be the “shelling” of Kabul? Actually, it’s a sign of how safe the Afghan capital is that such a minor attack makes the news at all. In the case of Baghdad, it would have taken dozens of casualties for an attack to get this much media play. But even in Baghdad, it was easy to overhype such attacks. I remember how during visits to the Iraqi capital in the past, I would sometimes get worried e-mails from back home wondering if I was OK after some attack or another. Invariably, the folks back home knew more about it than I did because they were watching CNN, whereas when you are actually in a sprawling city like Baghdad, it is quite possible to be completely oblivious of a bombing that has taken place a few miles away.
I am by no means suggesting that the media suppress the news of such attacks, but I wish they would keep in mind that the only reason the Taliban stage them is to garner this kind of overwrought press coverage.
Heck of a statement of intent by the Taliban: one out of nine rockets is a dud, the eight that go off manage to inflict splinters on two people (although perhaps Purple Hearts should be awarded nonetheless), and the brave Talib Lions of Islam only dared come as close as twelve miles away, and even then they didn't dare stay long enough to remove their launcher for re-use. Soon little Afghan children will be taunting their neighbors with
Cowardy cowardy custard,
Your Mama's made of mustard,
Your Papa is a Taliban,
Who runs away from mouse and lamb,
And you're just like that scared old man,
You cowardy cowardy custard!*
*It scans better in the original Pashto, of course, but note the near-rhyme in line four. ;-) |
The Taleban fired eight rockets into Kabul yesterday in an attack designed as a statement of intent before the Afghan elections on August 20. A spokesman for the group said the attack showed that the Government and its Western backers could not ensure security before the landmark vote. "We are in control," said Zabiullah Mujahed, warning of further attacks.