Comments Posted By DaMav
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We're 48 hours into a complex urban clearing operation and already the Defeat and Disaster crowd back home is crowing up a storm.
Could things go badly? Certainly.
But consider the limited facts we know:
* This is a major military operation run by the Iraqis. That in itself is a sign of significant progress. Two big criticisms of the war have been that the Iraqis are unwilling to fight, and show no initiative. So when they do show initiative fight, shouldn't that be acknowledged rather than disparaged?
* Having read about a dozen articles on this, it seems there are between 12,000 and 15,000 Iraqi Army troops involved. It seems about a hundred have switched sides. This is hardly a shock to anyone following the conflict -- there has been a major attempt to infiltrate the Iraqi army. If thousands were defecting that would be a big deal, but a hundred? That means the vast majority are fighting on our side.
* Civilian hardships. Why automatically assume this will be blamed on the government? Sure, there are the usual Jihadis being quoted verbatim by the media, but nobody knows how this is being perceived by the average Basran. A lot of them may be blaming the militia. A lot of them may be relieved that the govt is finally moving in. Only the most wretched bias constantly assumes most civilians in Iraq are siding with the militia except under duress.
An example of this nonsense is when some of the news stories here have given prominent attention to "shortages of food" in the first 24 hours of the fight. Iraq is not Darfur. Cutting off food supplies for 24 hours is unlikely to result in widespread suffering but it sure makes a good line to blame the Iraqi government. And of course the obvious answer is that supplies will be restored when the militia stops killing the suppliers. It was the militia that forced the stores to close.
Again, I'm not saying things are great, I'm saying I don't know. And you don't either. So why assume that things are coming apart at the seams based on sketchy, incomplete, and contradictory reports? It's a serious mistake to believe your own propaganda. But no better to fall for somebody elses either.
Comment Posted By DaMav On 28.03.2008 @ 22:30
