Who ever heard of Arrowhead Ripper? Is he a rapper?

After getting some initial front-page treatment in major U.S. newspapers, the story was pushed back to page 18 in the Washington Post Thursday and Page 10 in The New York Times on Friday. The Los Angeles Times ran a front pager Thursday, then nothing.

Meanwhile, NPR radio this week highlighted U.S. soldiers' deaths during the assaults, with nary a mention of the bigger context for the soldiers' sacrifices.

The Associated Press' dispatches focused on U.S. casualties: "U.S. military says 15 American troops killed in last 48 hours." CNN ran with: "12 U.S. troops killed in Iraq in 48 hours." The New York Times headline read: "14 U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq in 2 Days."

Surprisingly, only Reuters seemed to get what was going on. Its headline said: "U.S. troops set trap for militants near Baghdad."

I can imagine that if these folks were covering Iwo Jima, the focus would be on the number of US casualties, not whether or not we were taking the beach, or advancing up the hill, or killing the enemy in far greater numbers.

Killing "THE" enemy?

The MSM is buying into the meme that everyone we kill during Arrowhead Ripper is "al Qaeda" -- by doing that they already are supporting the Administration far more than is warranted by the facts, at least as interpreted by that noted moonbat group: The Cato Institute

If we continue to pretend we are fighting one unified enemy ("the" enemy as Rand so often post) victory shall continue to elude us.

Bill, do you have some reason to think that the people were killing in Arrowhead Ripper aren't largely Al Qaeda?

If we continue to pretend we are fighting one unified enemy ("the" enemy as Rand so often post) victory shall continue to elude us.

There's no pretend about it, Bill. They are unified in that they want us to leave, and they want to kill us. If we did, the unity would rapidly disintegrate, but for now, they're unified enough to get them in one place and kill or demoralize them, which is what Yon and Roggio are reporting is happening.

I agree with you Rand, unity is important. The only thing that is uniting Ba'athists, the Mahdi army, Sadr supporters, Sunni nationalists, salafists, Ansar al-Islam, IARR marxists, Iran's Badr goons, islamist mujahideen, misc wahhabi fundamentalists (yada, yada, yada.) at the moment is the common goal of slaughtering our little coalition of the willing.

The only thing that is uniting Ba'athists, the Mahdi army, Sadr supporters, Sunni nationalists, salafists, Ansar al-Islam, IARR marxists, Iran's Badr goons, islamist mujahideen, misc wahhabi fundamentalists (yada, yada, yada.) at the moment is the common goal of slaughtering our little coalition of the willing.

I agree. What's your point. Our pulling out may cause them to start fighting each other instead, but it won't prevent them from establishing a new terrorist state (or more likely statelets) from which to train people to attack us again. We would simply create multiple new Afghanistans under multiple Talibans.

Of course some of the dying aren't AQ. Yon said so in his last report. However, the intelligence we have from the civilians that live in the area, plus the intel from other sources on the ground have proven that the area is an AQ stronghold, and we will take it down.

The civilians in the area are helping and cheering us. That must be a sick AQ trick or something, right Bill? They're not happy to see us take out the trash that's moved into their area. They can't possibly be happy to be safer than before once we clear out the rats.

The left-side media is exasperating, seemingly rooting for the other side. What can we do about it?

Well, here's some satire just for the fun of it, as long as we're on the topic of "Media Criticism." This is how the left-side media might cover a sport they didn't agree with.

--
ALP: Ice [Hockey] Wars: Combatants Banished to Dressing Rooms

In an unprecedented move, NHL President Gary "W" Bettman (GWB) has authorized the use of dressing rooms as holding cells for unlawful combatants. Players deemed to be irreconcilable will be handed extended penalties and will be removed from the battlefield to the dressing rooms, possibly for the duration of the Ice Wars. The president assures ALP that the combatants will be well taken care of, given full medical treatment and "three" squares of toilet tissue each.

Player Union head, Narry "Pinko" Reid (NPR) responded to the news by saying GWB's "Ice Wars" is based on lies and mis-information, saying Habeas Corpus has been unlawfully suspended. The players are being accused of attacking the other team players with hockey sticks, chopping at their heads as if with axes. But those charges are based on the ref's word alone and that's insufficient proof, says NPR, and only a trial before a judge and jury can determine guilt. He concluded by saying the dressing rooms need to be closed immediately, that the president must transfer the freedom players to the Penalty Box.

Outside of the arena, a gathering of protesters decried the president's use of dressing rooms as inhumane. Signs saying, "DRESSING ROOMS Are For Dressing, NOT For Dressing Down" and "Betthitler, The Oppressor" were seen dotted throughout the crowd.

Ice Wars For Truth, producers of the viral video "Warm Pucks," has claimed Bettman sewed itching powder into the player uniforms, deliberately setting off Ice Wars hostilities.

"Ice Wars" continues tonight on Fox TV. The teams are tied at three games each with the deciding Game #7 beginning at 8pm. It's billed as sudden death and one team won't be going home with the Stanley Cup. Counselors have been summoned to deal with the inevitable grief.

"little coalition of the willing"

Adrasteia,

What additional countries would need to deploy military forces (and in what quantity) to remove the "little" in your comment?

Just wondering, because the use of "little" seems a bit dismissive.

Regards,

The insurgents and al Qaeda are not acting as a unified force any more, and in increasing cases the nationalist insurgents are acting with the Coalition to cleanse areas of AQ. Getting the tribal groups and local militias to turn against AQ has been one of the major accomplishments since Petraeus took over.

Getting the tribal groups and local militias to turn against AQ has been one of the major accomplishments since Petraeus took over.

Shhhhhh...

Don't upset the clueless who think that the war is against George Bush, instead of against Islamic extremists. They might not be able to handle the cognitive dissonance.

Getting the tribal groups and local militias to turn against AQ has been one of the major accomplishments since Petraeus took over.

This is good news, but it was our cluelessness that let al Qaeda enter Iraq in they first place.

Yes, it is good that we are pulling weeds but unless we plant and grow good grass, the exercise shall be futile.

Bill White wrote:
"...cluelessness that let al Qaeda enter Iraq in they first place."

Something missing there from my point of view.

Look at AQ recruiting and support among native, fairly well off, often educated, superficially assimilated muslims in Germany, Spain, and England. Not just AQ either of course but other similar organisations; it's a two-way meeting of fanatical intent between an individual and an organisation.

There were plenty of people sympathetic to AQ to various degrees in Iraq before the war started, some of them even openly establishing at least limited cooperation/association while Saddam was still in power. Some probably even with Saddams tacit approval if not also knowingly supported or even instigated.

What I'm pointing out is that it's not all about entry as such but a meeting of minds that's next to impossible to avoid.

Similarily there's no self-described "AQ in the US" organisation right now but there might as well be because there are individuals in the US that already fit the bill as far as fanatical intent goes (not talking about vocal politics but about islamic fundamentalism). Would it make sense to say that AQ entered the US if some of them suddenly start describing themselves as AQ?

Maybe we ought not to split up the terrorists, but to unify them all, exactly where they belong - in Hell.

BW writes, "If we continue to pretend we are fighting one unified enemy ("the" enemy as Rand so often post) victory shall continue to elude us."
It is then pointed out that the troops on the ground are not fighting this way so he then writes, "Yes, it is good that we are pulling weeds but unless we plant and grow good grass, the exercise shall be futile."
I assume this is refering to a stable government. Efforts are being made to purge the corrupt and incompetent but since the press, as Rand's post points out, is parsimonious with good news and with details on fights we are winning it's hard to tell how we really are doing. So, by moving the goal posts from how we are fighting to how poorly the government is working, BW still gets to criticize.

Defeatocrats from the Democrat Party, like Senator Lugar, are undermining the war effort. We're winning and our increased casualties prove it!