1. tfk
  2. Contradictory?

Contradictory?

By tfk on March 7, 2007.

The BB Gang find this contradictory:

In the Washington Post today, Nancy Boyda reported that commanders in Iraq were "cautiously optimistic" about new efforts to secure Baghdad.

That's not the same picture she painted in today's Cap Journal, where "she had little positive to report."

If the only good thing going on is that the commanders are "cautiously optimistic," I think that's "little positive to report."

For instance, rape of female soldiers is a bad thing. The escalating civil war (and no, BB, it isn't externally fomented, it's an internal clash). The rate of American fatalities continues to rise, car bombs and attacks on civilians increase apace, and soldiers report that the only noticeable effect of training sessions with Iraqi army or police is that the insurgents have better tactics and better aim afterward. Different ministries of the Iraqi government are openly at war with each other, the lights still don't stay on, the streets aren't safe for anyone, and when soldiers come home, they often can't get the care they deserve for physical and psychological injuries.

But the commanders are "cautiously optimistic." I'd be cautious with that, too. After all, too many of our leaders were pretty optimistic before the war started.

Tags
Policy and Politics

More like this

Good News from Baghdad
Another email update from Senior Middle East Correspondant Paul Schemm, this time including some stuff that could be read as sort-of positive, if you're a fan of the American presence in Iraq: The US soldiers obligingly stopped periodically during one patrol and allowed me to clamber out and talk…
Iraq
Talking about Iraq is getting harder and harder. Not in the way that talking about Israel is getting harder; there are no forces maumauing dissenters into lockstep. Indeed, the political leadership is lagging the public's desire to see an end to the occupation of Iraq. What's hard to talk about…
Hindsight and Foresight in Iraq
Much has been written about the incompetence with which the Bush administration has pursued the war and post-war occupation in Iraq. I'd like to add to our understanding of that situation by looking, in hindsight, at what was predicted with foresight before the war. Many of the people who were…
First, Do No Harm
Medical interventions alway carry risks.  So do other types of interventions, such as those carried out in the name of national security.  Just as physicians must not let their enthusiasm for healing carry them into the realm of medical misadventure, we, as a country, must exercise prudence and…

Ah, the difference is straight reporting (bad news comes through unaltered) versus 'executive summary' (news travelling top down).

Clear now?

And let's not forget that "cautiously optimistic" is military-speak for "I'd really like to get my retirement promotion when I pack it in, so I'm not about to say out loud that the civilian commanders are positively bonkers."