It’s great to read that American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror. After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, Al-Qaeda’s dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant “last stand” in the northern city of Mosul. A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10. Operation Lion’s Roar, in which the Iraqi army combined forces with the Americans’ 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, has already resulted in the death of Abu Khalaf, the Al-Qaeda leader, and the capture of more than 1,000 suspects.
But when I say it’s great to read it – the one place of course that I won’t be reading this is the BBC – which studiously avoids any mention of military victory in Iraq and concentrates instead on the news that four Iraqi men say they are suing US military contractors for torturing them while they were detained at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. The idea that we are WINNING the battle against militant Islam in Iraq is unacceptable to the BBC and its ” ‘Nam quagmire ” defeatist narrative and so even as we are poised for spectacular victory – the BBC stays mute. The BBC – the enemy within.
the bbc may think ‘we are winning’but do al -queda know this ?
Hi David,
What about this article:
“Key Iraqi al-Qaeda figure ‘dead’
US and Iraqi forces on patrol in Mosul
Mosul is a centre for al-Qaeda fighters displaced from further south
The US military in Iraq says a militant killed on Tuesday has been positively identified as the leader of al-Qaeda in the city of Mosul.
It said the man – identified by a pseudonym, Abu Khalaf – had co-ordinated and ordered many attacks.
He was shot dead by American troops during a raid on a building in Mosul.
US and Iraqi forces have been carrying out an offensive in the city for more than a month, in an attempt to drive out al-Qaeda in Iraq from Mosul.
The city, US and Iraqi officials say, is al-Qaeda’s last urban stronghold in Iraq.
Also on Friday, US military officials said the handover to Iraqi control of Anbar province, west of Baghdad, was being postponed.”
A statement said the delay was because of forecasts for high winds and dust storms on Saturday, but no new date for the handover was announced.
The postponement came a day after a suicide bomb attack in Anbar, which killed at least 20 people, including a tribal leader and members of a patrol force opposed to al-Qaeda in Iraq.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7477235.stm
Hope your book will be better researched.
Gunnar: just look at the language used
Why is ‘dead’ in inverted commas? The guy is certainly a corpse, but because the report comes from the US military (despite it being an Iraqi Army operation) we can’t trust it, can we?
Also says Mosul is a centre for al-Qaeda forces: no mention of the fact this centre has been destroyed.
And what do they mean ‘attempt’ to drive out al-Qaeda? It was a success.
And of course, the article ends with a negative flourish, saying that the evil US won’t give up Anbar province and suicide bombers (militants?) are actually winning.
Pathetic.
Saddam’s stockpile of, yes, 500+ tons of yellowcake ore just reached Canada.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107ap_iraq_yellowcake_mission.html
…Any predictions about the length and breadth of BBC coverage? How about some context ‘From Our Correspondent’ about the Plame/Wilson fiasco? Or maybe a glowing sidebar on the peaceful uses of enriched uranium?
C’mon Frei, you can do it!
Sharamik,
The post was in response to DV hyperbole:
“But when I say it’s great to read it – the one place of course that I won’t be reading this is the BBC – which studiously avoids any mention of military victory in Iraq and concentrates instead on the news that four Iraqi men say they are suing US military contractors for torturing them while they were detained at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.”
Again, I hope the book will be somewhat better researched and written with a clearer head. Otherwise, it will be as amusing as this website.
Gunnar,
At no point does the BBC article state this was a success of any kind, let alone a victory. I think the DV point still stands.
Sharamik,
Does the Times articly mention the words “success” and “victory”?
How does “the one place of course …” stand up? Again, the usual hyperbole.
Yes the Times article does, read it for yourself
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article4276486.ece
“American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror”
Also note that the Times correspondant was attached to the Iraqi Army: where was the BBC correspondant?
“Last Friday I joined the 2nd Iraqi Division as it supported local police in a house-to-house search for one such bomb after intelligence pointed to a large explosion today.
Even in the district of Zanjali, previously a hotbed of the insurgency, it was possible to accompany an Iraqi colonel on foot through streets of breeze-block houses studded with bullet holes”
I’ll take first-person eyewitness accounts over ivory tower spin if it’s all the same to you.
Yes, the Times article does call it a victory:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article4276486.ece
“American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.”
Also note that the correspondant is in Iraq, attached to the Iraqi Army. I will take first person eyewitness accounts over ivory tower spin.
“Last Friday I joined the 2nd Iraqi Division as it supported local police in a house-to-house search for one such bomb after intelligence pointed to a large explosion today.
Even in the district of Zanjali, previously a hotbed of the insurgency, it was possible to accompany an Iraqi colonel on foot
Sharamik
You are right, my oversight.
Nevertheless, DV managed to overstate his case again.
With regards to embedded reporting, you can not have your cake and eat it.
With regards to embedded reporting, you can not have your cake and eat it.
gunnar | 06.07.08 – 1:39 pm | #
Yes, I suppose the BBC does its share of embedding – usually with the enemy though.
(Sorry, forgot – “enemy” might be considered a pejorative word, right?)
Given the scale of what we pay for the BBC’s “news” services, they could afford to have a combination of embedded reporters and Green Zone guys – and their stringers alongside the terrorists..
There is more front-line reporting on Iraq from independent self-funded bloggers (milblogs) than the entire £1 billion BBC news machine gives us.
The BBC fails to embed with the US and Iraqi forces because it would rather see terrorism from terrorism’s side.
And the BBC will never give John McCain any credit for proposing and pushiung for the US troop surge that has turned events round in Iraq. They won’t even mention his role on the surge. The surge is the “change we can believe in”, so better drop it down the memory hole.
The quotes around ‘dead’ are ridiculous. Has the BBC decided that death is a matter of opinion? Or do they still need Al Qaeda’s opinion to decide the man actually died?
There is more front-line reporting in Iraq from independent bloogers (milblogs) than the entire bloated BBC £1 billiion news machine gives us.
The BBC could readily afford embedded reporters and Green Zone guys – as well as its usual stringers with the terrorists. Instead, it has shown a clear preference for seeing terrorism from the terrorists’ side.
The BBC does not like to admit that the surge is working – because it reflects directly on the naivete of Barack Obama, as well as giving credit to US and Iraqi forces.
And the BBC will avoid like poison the news-fact that the surge policy was proposed and pushed by John McCain. Real “change we can believe in”.
I also found the Times’ report more informative and in depth than the BBC
JohnA: There was an interesting article on Fox News that basically said, you know when things are getting better in Iraq as the media stops reporting on it. Unlike Afghanistan, which of course was totally ignored by the UK and US leftie media until things started to heat up.
Individual articles describing little victories may appear on the beeb along with an even greater amount of defeatist claptrap.you will not however find any coherent narrative leading one to conclude that we are at the culmination of a victorious campaign….the beeb are our enemy…no more no less.
Some of us have not forgotten when the BBC admitted it was lying in it’s
reporting from Iraq. And when the BBC fabricated the UK army desertion story. And when the BBC fabricated alleged war crimes by US troops in Fallujah.
The whole gigantic edifice that is the BBC has little to do with
information or entertainment – just a job creation scheme for non-productive, left leaning luvvies to suckle on the state for life. Hopefully not for much longer…
The surge’s success in Iraq is a bitter pill for the anti-American Beeb to swallow. It is precisely this success that causes them to continue to look the other away while Iraq has not descended into civil war the way some of them predicted (eg Simpson) or wished.
The Sunday Times report was its lead story, huge headlines.
Even some of the liberal press in the US eg the New York Times have admitted the success of the surge.
As World Affairs Editor, John Simpson should be sacked for failing to report or organise proper reporting on the major news of Iraqi / US success in Iraq.
re. the BBC failure to report the 500 tons of uranium yellowcake just removed from Iraq – of course the BBC cannot report that. It would contradict BBC groupthink about WMDs and would tell against all its love-ins over the Plame / Wilson affair.
This is a reasonable opinion piece on improvements in Baghdad http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7482307.stm .
Re the yellow cake, was it declared by saddam prior to 2003?
Even the ISTG admits it could not rule out the possibility that Saddam had been TRYING to get more of the stuff…they even admitted Saddam had continued programs to develop WMD…but of course all this never gets mentioned, especially not by Al Beeb!
I guess its just easier to believe GW lied to us all!
Mailman
JohnA:
There is more front-line reporting in Iraq from independent bloogers (milblogs) than the entire bloated BBC £1 billiion news machine gives us.
John,
I used to blog on this site 18 months ago, from our villa in Al Mansour (Red Zone) West Baghdad, whilst working as a security advisor for Iraqna (The main mobile phone network provider in Iraq)
I would be out on the streets on a daily basis (providing undercover security) and sure things could be dangerous, but talk of a civil war, power cuts, sanitation, refugee crisis, etc – were vastly exagerated by the BBC.
Commerce and business were thriving (ignored by the BBC)
A nearby girls school was mortared – The schrapnel I saw was clearly marked as The Iranian, as was much of the ordanence and technogigy in recent attacks (igorned by the Beeb)
Basically what I was seeing on a day to day basis at street level, did not compare with what I was seeing on BBC world news every evening.
Al Quada and the Iranians (wanting to destabalise the region and sway public opinion away from another conflict against them) knew that as much bad news as possible was best for them –
The BBC duly supplied it and I am convinced have helped to prolong the conflict and are therefore responsable for many deaths themselves.
Should add (without giving away anything confidential) that our team was mainly Iraqi, made up of Sunni’s, Shia’s and the odd Christian. We trusted each other with our lives.
So I had a very good idea of the mood in Baghdad at that time.
Chuffer
That BBC report on improvements in Baghdad is NOT a fair report. Especially the sentence that encapsulates its whole sense :
“It is just not quite as volatile and dangerous as it was this time last year”.
Plus the conclusion “Very slowly, things are changing”
That is absolute twaddle – the “not quite” and “very slowly” descriptions are real lies. Patronising BBC tosh.
Damning with faint priase, trying to minimise the very clear advances that have been made – not just in Baghdad, but through nearly all of Iraq, thanks to the surge and the way it has helped stiffen the Iraqi forces.
Where are the FACTS ? – for instance in Baghdad the dominant fact that the Mahdi brigade has been made inoperative.
Nicholas Witchell is a lightwight, just passing through – his waffly piece is in total contrast to very full summary of developements in the Times by a seasoned war reporter.
I still assert that BBC reporting from Baghdad has been a travesty of what such a hugely-funded news organisation should be providing to the licence-payers.
The Sunday Times very full and factual report was its lead story, most of the front page.
The Nicholas Witchell piece gets a minor reference on the BBC’s web page headed “Struggle for Iraq”. Lower down there is a quote in much bigger type “The situation is as volatile as ever”.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/middle_east/2002/conflict_with_iraq/default.stm
The title for the page is itself a joke – what “Struggle for Iraq” ?
There is an elected Government, which province by province has been taking direct control of the country.. Al Quaeda has been decimated, driven out of most parts of Iraq. The few remaining Al Q attacks are often by women – a sure sign of weakness. Sunni insurgents have downed their wea[pons. De facto control and terror in Basra and much of Baghdad by Shi’ite militias have been ended by the Maliki government – by the Iraqis with US support.
So – what “Struggle for Iraq” is the stupid BBC talking about ?
But we should all note the usual Orwellian tactic of the Beeb – the “Have Your Say” on “Has the Surge Worked” was rapidly closed down. That is – the most important overall issue in Iraq is not deemed worthy of continued comments by the public.
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?sortBy=2&forumID=5034&edition=1&ttl=20080707124434&#paginator
There has been endless bias in the BBC’s “reporting” from Iraq. Throughout – a flavour of anti-Americanism, puffing up all the bad news, playing down the good news. It started at the time the sailors on the Ark Royal demanded that the BBC news be shut off – and it still continues.
And right now, covering up the full progress of the surge is a way of minimising the contrast between McCain’s good sense and Obama’s ignorance. Now ain’t it a surprise for the BBC to be biased towards the Dems ?
Iraqi Success Stories Not Yet Reported By the BBC:
The Sunni Arab Accordance Front calling for the end to their boycott of the Iraq Parliament.
Iraq’s parliament passing a law to let members of the Ba’ath party return to public life, a major benchmark for the success of Iraqi government.
The IMF stating that Iraq’s economy will expand significantly.
The Iraqi dinar, all but worthless during Saddam’s final years, is now a safe and solid medium of exchange .
Booming small-business activity, and Iraqi agriculture experiencing such a a revival that Iraq now exports food to its neighbors for the first time since the 1950s.
The IMF’s Middle East director saying Iraqi oil production was forecast to climb by 200,000 barrels per day to 2.2m barrels a day in 2008 and that Iraq’s gross domestic product growth is expected to jump significantly up to over 7 percent, in 2008 and 2009.
The Council of Foreign Relations fellow Michael O’Hanlon stating “the pace of progress is finally picking up.
Since the toppling of Saddam, Iraqis no longer try to escape over the Iranian and Turkish borders. Instead of fleeing the “nightmare” that Iraq has supposedly become, Iraqi refugees have been returning, more than 1.2 million of them as of last December.
Pilgrim traffic to venerated Islamic shrines in Karbala and Najaf all but dried up after Saddam crushed a Shi’ite uprising in 1991. In 2005 these holy sites received an estimated 12 million pilgrims, making them the most-visited spots in the entire Muslim world, ahead of both Mecca and Medina.
Leading mobile phone company Iraqna is set to take in nearly $520 million in revenues in 2006. That follows a record year in 2005 of $333 million.
Since 2003 the salaries of average Iraqis have risen in excess of 100%.
Some Iraqi Success Stories Not Yet Reported By the BBC:
The Sunni Arab Accordance Front calling for the end to their boycott of the Iraq Parliament.
Iraq’s parliament passing a law to let members of the Ba’ath party return to public life, a major benchmark for the success of Iraqi government.
The IMF stating that Iraq’s economy will expand significantly.
The Iraqi dinar, all but worthless during Saddam’s final years, is now a safe and solid medium of exchange .
Booming small-business activity, and Iraqi agriculture experiencing such a a revival that Iraq now exports food to its neighbors for the first time since the 1950s.
The IMF’s Middle East director saying Iraqi oil production was forecast to climb by 200,000 barrels per day to 2.2m barrels a day in 2008 and that Iraq’s gross domestic product growth is expected to jump significantly up to over 7 percent, in 2008 and 2009.
The Council of Foreign Relations fellow Michael O’Hanlon stating “the pace of progress is finally picking up.
Since the toppling of Saddam, Iraqis no longer try to escape over the Iranian and Turkish borders. Instead of fleeing the “nightmare” that Iraq has supposedly become, Iraqi refugees have been returning, more than 1.2 million of them as of last December.
Pilgrim traffic to venerated Islamic shrines in Karbala and Najaf all but dried up after Saddam crushed a Shi’ite uprising in 1991. In 2005 these holy sites received an estimated 12 million pilgrims, making them the most-visited spots in the entire Muslim world, ahead of both Mecca and Medina.
Leading mobile phone company Iraqna is set to take in nearly $520 million in revenues in 2006. That follows a record year in 2005 of $333 million.
Since 2003 the salaries of average Iraqis have risen in excess of 100%.
Iraqi ecomomy is booming.
I know many people who have invested in property around Irbil and Sulaymanayah.
Iraq is a prosperous place, despite what you hear on the Beeb.
Lets not get ahead of ourselves, there is still lots of work to do in Iraq BUT its not the lose Al beeb and co want it to be!
Notice how quiet Al Beeb and co are after each of the Haditha cases were thrown out?
Notice how Al beeb and co dont mention the so called “human rights” activist, has question marks over his own terrorist activities?
Mailman
Andy:
‘Iraqi Success Stories Not Yet Reported By the BBC.’
One could go through each of your assertions, point-by-point, but, for the sake of argument, let’s assume that you’re 100% correct on all your points. The question to ask is, ‘So what?
Which of these wondrous ‘successes’ are worth shedding British or American infidel blood for?
Which one of these wondrous ‘successes’ are worth the $1,000,000,000,000(one trillion) this whole misadventure has cost?
When will otherwise sensible people on the right realise Iraq has been a strategic blunder of epic proportions?
Iran, not Iraq, is the real threat – regionally and globally. And because of Iraq, we can’t move against Iran. Not only that, but US diplomats are putting the screws on Israel not to move against Iranian nuclear facilities.
What a mess!
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/021655.php
‘Sending very expensive-to-recruit-train-maintain-and-outfit Western troops to Iraq, and keeping them there to attempt to attain a goal impossible of attainment, is, to say the least, unwise. The Sunnis will never acquiesce in their loss of power to the despised Shi’a.
And the Shi’a Arabs, who constitute 60-65% of the population in Iraq (and hence about 80% of the Arab population), will never surrender the power, and the money that comes with the power, that they acquired — inevitably and inexorably acquired — once Saddam Hussein’s regime had been overturned.
The current American government — and by the looks of it, either of the two alternative successors to the Bush Administration — fail to grasp this. They fail, furthermore, to grasp that being worried about “chaos” and “violence” that would follow “an American pull-out” misses the point.
Chaos and violence in the Arab and Muslim world, chaos and violence that weakens that world, that causes men, money, materiel to be used up not by Americans and other Infidels, but by Muslims fighting with each other, is not a bad thing, but a good thing.’
What we have seen are at best, temporary, tactical victories in Iraq.
The ‘surge’ was conducted successfully with great courage, skill and resolution, but really, what was the point? Why did those brave young men die?
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0703/p01s04-wome.html
When it goes home to Fort Stewart, Ga., this month, the unit will be among the last to return from the “surge,” Washington’s move to calm the sectarian bloodshed that had consumed Baghdad and much of Iraq.
In many regards, the plan worked. Violence dropped as about 30,000 extra US soldiers moved into combat outposts around Iraq starting in February 2007. Last month, the number of Iraqis killed was 515; last June, that figure was 3,000.
Still, while the 1/64 recognizes much progress during its tour, the majority of the more than dozen soldiers and officers interviewed question if their effort will have been worth it in the end. Many say their mission helped bring about only a lull in the sectarian killings and feel that neither the Iraqi government nor its forces are ready, capable, or even motivated to build on the successes of the surge.
A lot of the [Iraqi] soldiers do not want to do their jobs,” grumbles Staff Sgt. Jose Benavides from Miami. “If the Americans leave, the sectarian violence will flare up.”
In one stately Adel villa, Iman Marouf says she’s “guarding” the house for its absent Shiite owners. No Shiites have dared return to the neighborhood since a bombing last month targeted some who had come back.
“Fear consumes people. Hearts are still filled with fear,” says Mrs. Marouf, gesturing emotionally.
Her sister, Jinan Marouf, adds: “All this calm is temporary, trust me. If we get someone like Saddam Hussein back, Iraq will be itself again. We need someone with his control.”
F**ck me Anonymous, who ever you are?
You really are a doom and gloom merchant.
Sure Iraq is going to take a long time to mend after Saddam and please remember the answer you get from an Iraqi is the one he thinks you want to hear!
For the last 4 years, I have lived and worked in Iraq, both for the UN as an election monitor and as a security advisor and whilst being often bloody and violent, great improvements have been made, which until very recently and begrudgingly you did not hear on the BBC.
I do however agree in part with the comment about Iraqi’s needing “someone like Saddam back, to tell them what to do”
Obviously not him, or alike, but years of that style of control is hard to adjust from.
The main point I was really trying to make, was that Iraqi successes, whether temporal or permanent, are almost never reported by the BBC, only failures. The success of the surge has become their inconvenient truth.
Its a good thing that the Iraqi people don’t have to rely on their fate from Europe’s liberal elite, who continually claim how Bush, Rumsfield, America, Iraqi politicians, shieks and common people are inept, wrong and unworthy.
The BBC will never focus on hope and progress but unrelenting criticism, criticism, criticism.
The BBC will offer nothing and are good for nothing, and fortunately have no authority in determining the fate of a vulnerable nation in the middle east of 24 million.
I am even wondering of there will come the day day where death tolls become lower than some communities in some western democracies.
Will these naysayers who have really only wanted to focus on defeat giving NO credit to Bush and American resolve, still claim its wrong and a failure because THEY don’t approve?
Anonymous: it is a little presumptuous to conclude that the successes made so far are only temporal. The populace had been conditioned to hate America under Saddam for 30 years, that hate wouldn’t have awakened to understanding America’s intent nor that of their real enemies.
It is understood by many who’ve been there the main reason the masses have come to accept and even embrace America’s presence is they have witnessed with their own blood their true enemies: al-Queda.
What else,oh Iran. Watch out for the horror America causes with Iran. Let them start making nuclear weapons and leave it all up to the UN.
Anonymous
Let’s have some more specifics in the form of facts and figures. You haven’t said a thing to contradict those Iraqi success I listed. Nothing.
Sorry Anonymous – I prefer the reading of Tim who has first hand extended knowledge of Baghdad, to a few extracts you have chosen from some selective reporting by the Christain Science Monitor.
If the violence has drasticalkly decreased, if the economy is definetly looking up, if the Sunnis now join the government – and if October’s elections again show a big turnout and an overall vote for inter-communal peace – why would the Iraqi nation want to go backwards ?