Dean's World tips us off to this over at Michael Totten's Middle East Journal:
BIARA, IRAQ – The PUK’s Minister of the Interior ordered 20 heavily armed Peshmerga soldiers to go with me to the borderland mountain village of Biara. For years the village was occupied by Ansar Al Islam, the Kurdish-Arab-Persian branch of Al Qaeda in Northern Iraq. Biara wasn’t the only village seized by the Taliban of Mesopotamia, but it was perhaps the most important. It is there that the Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had his last stand in Iraqi Kurdistan before the 2003 US-led invasion forced him out.
My Peshmerga weren’t really necessary. I told my translator Alan that I was embarrassed so many military resources were being spent on my account. I probably didn’t need any.
“It’s too much,” Alan said and laughed. He, too, was clearly embarrassed. “It’s too much. The minister is doing this to be nice. He wants you to know that he cares about you.”
I introduced myself to some of my Peshmerga guards. There were so many it wasn’t easy to speak to them all. I had a hard time looking them in the eye. Jesus, I thought. These guys must think I’m the biggest wimp in the world. Biara isn’t actually dangerous. Zarqawi hasn’t been there for years. But it wasn’t my idea to bring them along. When the minister said “I will send guards with you” I thought he meant maybe two guys. I cringed when I saw how many picked me up at my hotel in the morning.
Read the whole thing - it helps to let you know just what we've been doing in Iraq while the MSM and our leftist opposition has been dancing to the terrorists' tune.
Posted by Mark Noonan at March 12, 2006 02:41 PM
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Comments
Read the whole post--it was awesome. Why in the heck is it so hard for our MSM to report things like that? Everyone knows war ain't easy, yet they focus on the bad and let all the progress go ignored. I guess that's what you get when the MSM is a branch of the DemocRAT party.
If Slicky Blue-Dress had invaded Iraq, as he should have, and the situation were the same as it is now, how do you think the MSM, and the DemocRAT party would have reacted, on a daily basis, to EVERYTHING going on over there? I contend that the news would be quite different, and that the GOP would be behind the president on at least this issue. Maybe we'll see in '08...
Posted by: keefer at March 12, 2006 06:27 PM
Mark,
You posted this over six hours ago, and none of our little Churchills have been able to rustle up a comment on it. I guess the truth hurts, huh?
Posted by: keefer at March 12, 2006 08:58 PM
Keefer,
It isn't something blowing up, so the left doesn't see it...
Posted by: Mark Noonan at March 12, 2006 09:00 PM
Holy moly, are you stalking me? Just kidding, but that was a fast response. You do great work here, Mark. Keep it up...
Posted by: keefer at March 12, 2006 09:01 PM
MSM report good news from Iraq? It really
depends on how the phrase good news is defined.
If you support telling the truth, then all the
news from Iraq is reported. If you support the
terrorist and hate America then only report the
stories that shows Americans in a bad way.
(which, to the MSM, is good news)
Posted by: Ken at March 13, 2006 12:54 AM
I don't know why you think the MSM is against you. Fox is an extreme example but the other stations are almost as bad, television news in the US is far to the right and is painfully short on analysis. I think it was CNN that used to have a 'global minute' that's right they tried to give a picture of what was happening in the world in a minute. It's all soundbite and no substance. The talk one story to death at a time repeating only the same inane remarks. It's superficial repetition that blocks all other news stories from coverage. As they attempt to deal with new viewers switching on or channel surfing they repeat the opening statements over and over...breaking news...etc. no time for context. It's unwatchable. The print media is much better though I hasten to admit is often to the right of what would be found in European news media.
Posted by: reichstagfire at March 13, 2006 07:50 PM
I'm sorry if that shocks you (as you all seem to have a perception that the media has a left-wing bias) Left, right, centre etc. are all a matter of perception, it depends where you stand on the spectrum. Europeans are largely to the left of what you perceive to be liberal here. So we have free health care for all, free education for all (including college education) and no death penalty and surprise, surprise this works rather well.
Posted by: reichstagfire at March 13, 2006 07:53 PM
Post a comment
Read the whole post--it was awesome. Why in the heck is it so hard for our MSM to report things like that? Everyone knows war ain't easy, yet they focus on the bad and let all the progress go ignored. I guess that's what you get when the MSM is a branch of the DemocRAT party.
If Slicky Blue-Dress had invaded Iraq, as he should have, and the situation were the same as it is now, how do you think the MSM, and the DemocRAT party would have reacted, on a daily basis, to EVERYTHING going on over there? I contend that the news would be quite different, and that the GOP would be behind the president on at least this issue. Maybe we'll see in '08...
Mark,
You posted this over six hours ago, and none of our little Churchills have been able to rustle up a comment on it. I guess the truth hurts, huh?
Keefer,
It isn't something blowing up, so the left doesn't see it...
Holy moly, are you stalking me? Just kidding, but that was a fast response. You do great work here, Mark. Keep it up...
MSM report good news from Iraq? It really
depends on how the phrase good news is defined.
If you support telling the truth, then all the
news from Iraq is reported. If you support the
terrorist and hate America then only report the
stories that shows Americans in a bad way.
(which, to the MSM, is good news)
I don't know why you think the MSM is against you. Fox is an extreme example but the other stations are almost as bad, television news in the US is far to the right and is painfully short on analysis. I think it was CNN that used to have a 'global minute' that's right they tried to give a picture of what was happening in the world in a minute. It's all soundbite and no substance. The talk one story to death at a time repeating only the same inane remarks. It's superficial repetition that blocks all other news stories from coverage. As they attempt to deal with new viewers switching on or channel surfing they repeat the opening statements over and over...breaking news...etc. no time for context. It's unwatchable. The print media is much better though I hasten to admit is often to the right of what would be found in European news media.
I'm sorry if that shocks you (as you all seem to have a perception that the media has a left-wing bias) Left, right, centre etc. are all a matter of perception, it depends where you stand on the spectrum. Europeans are largely to the left of what you perceive to be liberal here. So we have free health care for all, free education for all (including college education) and no death penalty and surprise, surprise this works rather well.