Good News Is Hard To Find
When the numbers of troops killed in Iraq was at all-time highs, the media stumbled all over itself to bring the pain of those families to the forefront of television screens and the front pages of newspapers across the country. When times were tough, the stories of suffering of our troops was everywhere. Have you noticed that as the situation in Iraq improved, the level of press coverage equally DECREASED?
The mainstream media – and most every other media outlet – gets most of its information either from the Associated Press or Reuters. When the numbers of fallen troops was high, the reports came loud and clear from the AP. The media couldn’t find enough to talk about. Now, the AP is reporting a different story, but have you seen it anywhere?
The monthly U.S. toll in Iraq fell to its lowest point since the war began, with 11 American deaths as July drew to a close Thursday after the departure of the last surge brigade.
Iraqis also are dying at dramatically lower numbers with the war in its sixth year. July saw the lowest civilian toll since December 2005, though a series of suicide bombings this week and rising ethnic tensions in northern Iraq reflect the fragility of the security successes. An Associated Press tally shows at least 510 Iraqi civilians and security force members were killed in July, a 75 percent drop from the 2,021 deaths in the same period last year as the U.S. troop buildup aimed at quelling rampant Sunni-Shiite violence was nearing its peak.
Another common dead horse that beat beyond belief is the lack of progress of Iraq’s security forces. It was also force fed into our homes and workplaces as the drumbeat for why Iraq was a lost cause. What you aren’t hearing about now should be criminal in response.
Iraq has nearly doubled its police force to nearly 300,000 officers. The Iraqi Interior Ministry under Jawad Bolani said that more than 200,000 police officers were hired since 2006. The ministry said police have taken security responsibility in 10 provinces. “These steps have not come without great sacrifice,” Maj. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf, the ministry’s operations director, said. “We have had 10,000 police officers killed or injured trying to bring peace to our communities.”
Why is good news so hard to find?
Donna
August 13th, 2008 at 8:40 pmThanks CJ for the post and the good news! You are right, we don’t hear hardly anything about Iraq anymore on the news. They need to report the good news as well as the bad but then it wouldn’t be politically expedient for them to do that.
Sounds like the Iraqi people are taking more responsibility for their country all the time! That’s good news for our troops as well!
David M
August 14th, 2008 at 5:35 amCJ, The news that Iraq is won just doesn’t fit their meme. Yet, everyday The Thunder Run searches the web and brings you all the news on Iraq and Afghanistan that the MSM won’t.
Unfortunately most American’s and people around the world wait for their local, national and international papers to spoon feed them what it is the MSM wants them to know and how to think. If only a few more of us, would go out of our way to search for the truth, the public perception about Iraq and Afghanistan would be a lot different.
I guess thats why we are sheepdogs and not the sheep.
Don Spaulding
August 14th, 2008 at 1:59 pmQ: Why is good news so hard to find?
A: Because success in Iraq is bad for Obama’s campaign. Maybe change *isn’t* what we really need. Maybe there’s reason to hope *regardless* of where B. Hussein O. sleeps.