DaleH 08/16/07
Media Earthquake: U.S. Winning in Iraq?
The buzz is spreading over an important op-ed in today’s New York Times entitled A War We Just Might Win by two policy analysts from the left-leaning Brookings Institution. Michael O’Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack, just back from a fact-finding trip to Iraq, write:
“Here is the most important thing Americans need to understand: We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms. As two analysts who have harshly criticized the Bush administration’s miserable handling of Iraq, we were surprised by the gains we saw and the potential to produce not necessarily “victory” but a sustainable stability that both we and the Iraqis could live with.
“Today, morale is high. The soldiers and marines told us they feel that they now have a superb commander in Gen. David Petraeus; they are confident in his strategy, they see real results, and they feel now they have the numbers needed to make a real difference.”
This is big because network television news takes it cues on positions from only a handful of sources, including the New York Times. So it will be interesting to see how this ripples through the media food chain.
Big media, for many reasons—most of them unflattering, adopt simplistic mindsets and rigid frameworks for issues, and have obviously been stuck in the “We’re losing Iraq” mode for years now. That’s one reason the positive news from Iraq has largely been ignored or relegated to page A12 or worse.
Rush Limbaugh devoted a chunk of his show today to this story, and said that if this becomes conventional wisdom in the media—that we are winning in Iraq—it will be very bad news for the Democrats.
About This Blogger
Since joining CBN News, Dale has reported extensively from Western Europe, as well as China, Russia, and Central and South America.