Iraq Perceptions

Most MSM news on Iraq will often support the idea that peace is on the way, Baghdad is now safe, and progress is at hand. This is what Americans are hearing.

For example: Iraqi PM: al-Qaida Chased From Baghdad

Iraq's prime minister said Friday that U.S. and Iraqi troops have chased al-Qaida in Iraq out of Baghdad in the year since a security crackdown began, and he promised to pursue insurgents who have fled northward.

John McCain is more or less basing his campaign on the continuation of the Iraq occupation. He is confident that a 'victory' is at hand, and that the surge is a success. He is the heir to the Bush legacy in Iraq and will continue with the policy.

His campaign will work to convince the American people of the occupation's value. Until November, the media will report on all stump speeches by McCain on this approach.

Patrick Cockburn's new article on Iraq challenges with very specific first hand information the notion that the surge is working.

Is the US Really Bringing Stability to Baghdad?

The "surge"--the 30,000 extra US troops implementing a new security plan in Baghdad--has helped to make Baghdad safer. In effect, they have frozen into place the Shia victory of 2006. The city is broken up into enclaves sealed off by concrete walls with only one entrance and exit.

Areas that were once mixed are not being reoccupied by whichever community was driven out... The US military and the Iraqi government are wary of even trying to reverse sectarian cleansing because this might break the present fragile truce.

Regardless, bombings and attacks on US troops continue.

For example: Iraqi PM: al-Qaida Chased From Baghdad

Bombings and rocket and mortar attacks attributed to Shiite militia "are not only continuing, they have significantly increased over the past six weeks..."

He singled out attacks on U.S. and British bases in oil-rich southern Iraq, particularly the city of Basra, where Shiite factions are engaged in a violent power struggle

In addition Sunni dominated areas of Iraq are also not at peace.

For example: Iraq Sunni insurgents turn to armor-piercing bombs

Sunni Arab insurgents in Iraq have developed their own crude versions of the Iran-originated armor-piercing munitions that have been a hallmark of Shi'ite militant roadside attacks on U.S. troops, U.S. defense officials say.

But officials are concerned that Sunni EFPs could become more deadly if they follow the same path toward sophistication as the most common roadside bombs, known as improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, used throughout Iraq against U.S. forces for much of the war..

Regarding the news that we hear on Iraq, we need to dig a little bit deeper and not allow our understanding to devolve into simplistic two word slogans like "surge success" that freeze and limit our understanding of complex issues and also hide the gross totality of the Iraq occupation.