Usually the anger is directed at the administration, the people who so amazingly “misunderestimated” what it would take to secure Iraq. (If you haven’t seen “No End in Sight” yet, do. It may seem irrelevant given the reported “success” of the surge but hopefully it will reinforce the importance of electing somebody in November who is cognizant of the intricacies of international relations and foreign policy – particularly in the Middle East.) If you’ve listened to the right news programs lately, you know that there has been plenty of new fuel for the fire. For example, every time I catch an interview with the authors of the $3 Trillion War, I spend the next hour swearing. If I understand them correctly, none of the war has been paid for yet. It’s all deficit funded. Even worse, we have no mechanisms in place to start paying or to continue to pay the costs that will be with us for at least the next fifty years.
However, I think a good portion of the anger I’ve felt recently has been spurred by what I perceived to be a lack of interest in our adventure in Iraq – both on the part of most media and the general public. (I won’t even get started on Afghanistan and Osama bin who? dropping off the radar). And although perceptions don’t often have a strong basis in reality, this one was actually confirmed by a recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. Among other things, the Pew Center found that the percentage of news stories devoted to the war has sharply declined since last year, dropping from an average of 15% of the news in July, when Ed arrived in Iraq, to just 3% this past February.
I learned about this study this past Sunday night, when the NY Times posted an article about it in its business section. About four hours later (yes, I was still on-line) the Associated Press announced that we had reached that “odometer moment” as Ed calls it, 4,000 dead service members in Iraq. And suddenly the coverage picked up a bit.
Granted, there are a number of reasons that the media coverage has dropped off. Among these are the fact that there are other pressing issues facing us right now. We are in the middle of a history making presidential campaign (although I’d argue that the coverage has been less than newsworthy since about Tsunami Tuesday). And the housing and stock market meltdowns are serious. But so is our adventure in Iraq. International relations, national security, and yes, the health of “the economy, stupid” both now and for the next 50 years, depend a great deal on what happens in Iraq.
And as I write this, I can actually feel myself moving from the anger stage to the depressed stage. So, being an Aries and preferring red hot Martian anger to soggy, blue depression, I will end with what really got me riled up this past week.
As we approached the five year anniversary and the 4,000 dead service member milestones, the news coverage did pick up. And our illustrious leaders made several amazing statements that reinforced, as if it needed reinforcing, how glad I will be when they are gone.
March 13, 2008
President George W. Bush speaking to soldiers in Afghanistan: "I must say, I'm a little envious. If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed.” …”It must be exciting for you ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks.”
Only somebody who has never served in war, has no imagination and is completely out of touch with reality could be envious and find this romantic.
March 17 and 18, 2008
John McCain speaking on talk radio (the Hew Hewitt show), Fox News, and in Jordan: 'As you know, there are al Qaeda operatives that are taken back into Iran, given training as leaders, and they're moving back into Iraq.'
This is the man that currently leads in national polls and is considered a strong candidate because of his foreign policy expertise? Al Qaeda = Sunni. Iran = Shi'a. Al Qaeda and Shi'as get along about as well as Protestants and Catholics did in mid-20th century Northern Ireland (or maybe 16th century France).
March 19, 2008
Vice President Dick Cheney responding to ABC news correspondent, Martha Raddatz’s questions about what he thought of the fact that 2/3 of the American public now disapproves of the war in Iraq. "So?"
Regardless of whether you agree with or follow public opinion, in a democracy the elected officials should at least care what their constituents think.
March 24, 2008
Bush reflecting on the 4,000 dead service member milestone. “One day, people will look back at this moment in history and say, `Thank God there were courageous people willing to serve because they laid the foundation for peace for generations to come.’”
As a work colleague of mine pointed out, if it took 4,000 bodies to lay the foundation, how many will it take to build the entire structure? FYI – if we were operating with historical killed: injured ratios, the number at this point would be closer to 10,000 dead.
March 24, 2008
Cheney to Martha Raddatz on the 4,000 dead service member milestone. "The president carries the biggest burden, obviously. He's the one who has to make the decision to commit young Americans, but we are fortunate to have a group of men and women, the all-volunteer force, who voluntarily put on the uniform and go in harm's way for the rest of us."
I don’t even know where to start with this one. I think I’ll just let it speak for itself.
Moving back towards acceptance...or not. Kathy
No comments:
Post a Comment