So, here I am happily returned from gathering signatures for our neighborhood on a new rule we wish to put in. I figured I'd scan DKos and The Page by Mark Halperin real fast and see what I had maybe missed. It seems I missed alot this last week.
Every week, on Friday, Mark puts out a PDF for "Campaign Scorecard". I usually find it interesting, but something stuck out at me like a sore thumb, considering I made a post about it last night here.
Was rather surprised to have what I said in the Lara Logan diary, to be so blatantly confirmed by Mark.
On his PDF, he gives scores out and who won on that particular category. I've never really paid much attention to the categories, but this time it caught my eye.
This time, it was about Iraq, from Mark Halperin's PDF for this week:
Obama’s early, outspoken opposition to the Iraq war helped him capture his party’s nomination — and at one point seemed likely to ensure him the White House as well. But favorable reporting by prominent news organizations, including the New York Times, on the Bush Administration’s troop surge may bolster McCain—who supports the effort—and neutralize the Iraq issue.
So this then led me to wondering, just how much has our news been watered down in regards to Iraq this last week. And I started to do some searching on the major news sites.
ABC News:
U.S. Says Iraqi Forces Still Need American Help - 6/23/08
Essentially it's pretty standard MSM fare for those of us used to it:
Iraqi troops are not ready to take full responsibility for security and combat operations in any part of the country, said Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin, the No. 2 U.S. military commander in Iraq.
"There are no areas that we would be willing to separate out right now to dedicate specifically to the Iraqi security forces," Austin told reporters at the Pentagon. "They are not there yet."
While the Pentagon, in a quarterly progress report to Congress, said Iraqi forces could be "mostly self-sufficient by the end of 2008," a senior U.S. military official said they will still require U.S. logistics and intelligence assistance for years.
So I continue meandering ABC to it's next one:
Baghdad's Minibus Taxis Bridge Sectarian Divide - 6/23/08
I found this one really interesting as it discusses the mini-bus taxi drivers starting to return to their routes again, slowly but surely, but as you read along, you find these two little gems buried in them:
U.S. officials credit a troop buildup ordered by President George W. Bush in early 2007, growing confidence among Iraq's security forces and ceasefires by various militias for the drop in casualties. But Iraq remains a violent place.
Last week, a truck bomb, parked next to minibus taxis, blew up in a Shi'ite neighborhood in Baghdad, killing 63 people in the worst attack in the capital in three months.
...
"My cousin is a minibus driver on the same Bayaa-Abu Ghraib route, but he was kidnapped with his vehicle and we do not know anything about him so far," said Abdoun.
Abdul-Karim, another driver on the same route, was once forced to stop his minibus at a fake checkpoint where gunmen seized three men from his bus.
"I was scared. I pleaded with the militants to leave the three men but they shouted at me. I could not do anything."
The fate of the three men is unknown.
I continue on in my story search for the week:
Bomb in Qaeda Bastion in Iraq Kills 3 U.S. Troops - 6/25/08
Interesting one here, because I can't find a news article about the other 4 supposedly killed this week as the article references!
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed three U.S. soldiers and an interpreter in a region of northern Iraq where U.S. and Iraqi forces are battling al Qaeda, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.
The attack, which brought the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq this week to seven, suggests al Qaeda remains dangerous in the northern province of Nineveh and its capital, Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad.
Now here's where my math starts to get a bit funny if you will:
US Forces Face Spike in Deadly Violence in Iraq
I've found 4 more, but now according to the story, we're at 10 for the week, but I was missing 4, so now I'm missing 3?
Roadside bombs killed four U.S. soldiers in northern Iraq, the military said Wednesday, in a spike of violence that pushed to at least 10 the number of Americans who have died here this week.
In the latest attack, one soldier was killed by an explosively formed penetrator, or EFP, about 9 a.m. Wednesday in the predominantly Shiite eastern half of Baghdad, the military said. The armor piercing bombs are believed to come from Iran and have been used by Shiite extremists to kill hundreds of American forces.
Then I finally find the last three, but wait no, I still haven't because the geographical locations don't add up!
Bombings Kill Dozens, 3 US Marines in Iraq Attacks
A suicide bomber attacked a meeting of pro-government Sunni sheiks west of Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 23 people, including three U.S. Marines. At least 18 more people died in a car bombing in the northern city of Mosul.
...
Thursday's other bombing took place at a building in Karmah, 20 miles west of Baghdad, where dozens of sheiks had gathered for a meeting attended by U.S. officials, said Col. Fawzi Fraih, civil defense director of Anbar province.
Now, I don't claim to be a math genius, but still totals up to 3 missing soldiers according to the news sources.
Alrighty then, so there's ABC, so I decide to traverse over to CBS News next to see what they have for me.
Surprisingly, CBS doesn't have ANY of these stories! But they have this neat little section called "War on Terror". So I meander through there, and here's what I find:
Afghan Fatalities Rise; Deadlier Than Iraq
(CBS/ AP) Roadside bombs killed five more foreign troops and five government soldiers in Afghanistan, part of a surge of violence that has made the country's battlefields deadlier for foreign forces than those in Iraq.
The U.S. administration has already highlighted the statistic to lobby its NATO allies - with limited success - to commit more forces to Afghanistan - a conflict likely to test the West's stomach for a long, grinding war.
...
Last year, more than 8,000 people were killed in insurgency-related attacks - the most since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion - and violence has claimed more than 1,700 lives so far this year.
...
A total of 31 foreign troops have died this month, including four British soldiers, four American troops and another member of the U.S.-led coalition killed earlier this week, according to an Associated Press tally.
In Iraq, where violence has decreased in recent months, 19 have died, though the 200 killed there so far this year is double Afghanistan's total.
Now, if that doesn't have you wondering about things, there's this little tidbit:
GAO Audit: $6B To Pakistan, For What?
AP) The United States has given Pakistan nearly $6 billion to pursue terrorists since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States but with little to no proof that the money has been used for that purpose, an independent audit has found.
The assessment by the Government Accountability Office, released Tuesday, angered members of Congress who say they are concerned that Pakistan - the closest U.S.ally in the war on terrorism - is milking the U.S. government.
Other than those two I found extremely interesting, nothing about the bombings or anything else from ABC. So on to NBC I go. Funny side note, if you do a search for "Iraq War" on NBC, you get a link at the top of the search, for John McCain's website!
Senior Iraqi judge slain in drive-by shooting
BAGHDAD - A senior Iraqi judge was assassinated by drive-by shooters while traveling in eastern Baghdad, Iraq's Higher Judicial Council said Friday.
Judge Kamil al-Showaili was driving home Thursday when the attack occurred, the council said. He was the head of one of Baghdad’s two appeals courts.
That was it for good NBC news! So nice to see that we're being fed our war news appropriately and unbiased in any sense!
Ok, one more source, the NY Times of course! Nothing on the World page, and if you do a search for "Iraq War", you get: Nothing since June 2, in regards to casualties.
Now, if I've missed anything, my deepest apologies, this was all blinking back and forth between windows and reading the necessary parts. Unfortunately, I wasn't watching much TV this week as far as the MSM goes, so I'm not overly sure which of these things actually appeared on air. However, I do recall hearing about one of the bombings, not both. I have not heard anything about Afghanistan in ages it feels like, much less the article about the $6B to Pakistan. I also recall hearing about how Iraq simply can not function without us there! At which point, I dutifully rolled my eyes.