Posted on 03/06/2006 10:04:44 PM PST by jmc1969
AMONG the many positive stories you aren't being told about Iraq, the media ignored another big one last week: In the wake of the terrorist bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, it was the Iraqi army that kept the peace in the streets.
It's routinely declared a failure by those who yearn for the new Iraq to fail. But an increasingly capable Iraqi military has been developing while reporters (who never really investigated the issue) wrote it off as hopeless.
What actually happened last week, as the prophets of doom in the media prematurely declared civil war?
* The Iraqi army deployed over 100,000 soldiers to maintain public order. U.S. Forces remained available as a backup, but Iraqi soldiers controlled the streets.
* Iraqi forces behaved with discipline and restraint - as the local sectarian outbreaks fizzled, not one civilian had been killed by an Iraqi soldier.
* Time and again, Iraqi military officers were able to defuse potential confrontations and frustrate terrorist hopes of igniting a religious war.
* Forty-seven battalions drawn from all 10 of Iraq's army divisions took part in an operation that, above all, aimed at reassuring the public. The effort worked - from the luxury districts to the slums, the Iraqis were proud of their army.
AS a result of its nationwide success, the Iraqi army gained tremendously in confidence. Its morale soared. After all the lies and exaggerations splashed in your direction, the truth is that we're seeing a new, competent, patriotic military emerge. The media may cling to its image of earlier failures, but last week was a great Iraqi success.
"Not one unit had sectarian difficulties," he stressed. "Not one. Now it is as you see for yourself: Iraqis are proud of their own soldiers."
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I urge you to read the whole article.
Ping
Thanks for posting this important good news.
Great Post, Thanks :-)
There was no peace on the streets! A very large number of lives were lost - the highest toll for any week so far.
Al-Bump
What a great article! Thanks for posting.
It took 2-3 days for the Army to start to mobilize. Just like with Katrina these things don't happen in a matter of hours.
I thought you might enjoy reading this!!!
We are also looking at the whole nation. There was peace in many parts of Iraq. Take a look at the U.S. murder toll for a number of large cities.
Wow great article. Of course he is summing up what we have known for a while via a lot of milblogs. The difference being the one of the horrifying events we were warned about has happened. Yet no Civil War. Even though I am getting tired of that term because it has a hundred different meanings. I think its clear that patience is the key. Americans need to take a deep breath and let this play out.
Short of a big shock that will help the polls on Iraq and the WoT like catching Zarqawi or Bin Laden we won't see much change any time soon. The media makes Iraq look bad if 10 or 100 Iraqis die in a day. Zarqawi's suicide bombers are really effective at attracting the media.
If we keep the US death count under 40 a month and keep the number of suicide bombers under 10 we will start to see support come back for the war no matter what the media says.
I gather that Iraq has a tribal society and that a tribe might have a degree of sectarian and even racial mixing. So it might be Kurdish-Arab-Shiite-- Sunni in composition rather than purely one or the other. So even a "Shiite" militia group might not be purely that.
Hitchens often makes a good point on the tribal stuff. His position is its often overblown by the media. He states that a huge percentage of the populations is so intermarried that most Iraqs have pretty close family relations within all three ethnic groups we hear about as well as the a smatering of others
This is the sort of development that President Bush has predicted all along.
The training and investment is starting to pay off. Even though the media will not report it, this will strengthen the will and unity of the Iraqis.
As the President said:"As the Iraqis Stand Up. We Will Stand Down".
Do you work for the New York Times? Or CNN?
Because your statement is a lot of hyperbolic hogwash.
The media's greatest ally is our own impatience. People need to remember that a struggle on this scale, like the Cold War, will go on for decades or longer, regardless of who is in the Oval Office or who controls congress. In the meantime, what matters is that those who are in charge are willing to take the fight to the enemy.
Were you able to click on the link and read the entire thing?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.