Iraq is just inconvenient
In the AP's top stories this morning, there was only one on Iraq, Making Coffee on Front Lines Gets Easier, which outlines the new technology in field coffee making.
Juan Cole's headlines?
The Iraqi Civil War took the lives of another 42 persons on Tuesday. Death squads are responsible for the 700 to 800 assassinations during the past month in Basra. Hundreds of Iraqis are fleeing Basra for Baghdad every day because security is even worse in the southern port city than in the capital. And there's a fair chance of an anti-Kurd crackdown in southeastern Turkey.
Good thing I know about this coffee breakthrough. Thanks, AP.
(Observation, we've seemed to reach a new threshold on reporting Iraq violence. The deaths in Iraq are no longer headlines unless 50+ Iraqis or 5+ Americans are killed in a single incident. 12 US soldiers have been killed by hostile attacks since Saturday, 46 this month, and that's no longer a headline. That normalization of death terrifies me. No coincidence that the President is driving the headlines towards immigration.)
UPDATE: The word "Iraq" is not even on the NYTimes web front page right now. The Wapo has it twice, once in a story on the probable new cabinet way down the page and once under a story on GOP approval ratings. What has changed since March?
Juan Cole's headlines?
The Iraqi Civil War took the lives of another 42 persons on Tuesday. Death squads are responsible for the 700 to 800 assassinations during the past month in Basra. Hundreds of Iraqis are fleeing Basra for Baghdad every day because security is even worse in the southern port city than in the capital. And there's a fair chance of an anti-Kurd crackdown in southeastern Turkey.
Good thing I know about this coffee breakthrough. Thanks, AP.
(Observation, we've seemed to reach a new threshold on reporting Iraq violence. The deaths in Iraq are no longer headlines unless 50+ Iraqis or 5+ Americans are killed in a single incident. 12 US soldiers have been killed by hostile attacks since Saturday, 46 this month, and that's no longer a headline. That normalization of death terrifies me. No coincidence that the President is driving the headlines towards immigration.)
UPDATE: The word "Iraq" is not even on the NYTimes web front page right now. The Wapo has it twice, once in a story on the probable new cabinet way down the page and once under a story on GOP approval ratings. What has changed since March?
posted by mikevotes at
7:25 AM
8 Comments:
We won't solve the immigration problem, but it does take our minds off what is important. That is why the spin has been put on the immigration "problem" from the get-go for this administration. Its a "safe" problem that detracts from the "real" problems facing us and this administration.
By
Unknown, at 7:44 AM
Right, Exactly. Dead on.
As the administration's experts have said over and over, like Rove on Monday, Iraq is the drag on Bush, so they're changing topic, and even if they lose the immigration argument, the fallout isn't as bad as if people were talking about prewar intel and Iraq.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 7:48 AM
14 US soldiers have been killed by hostile attacks since Saturday, 54 this month, the third highest monthly rate since the invasion,
Check those numbers, Mike. You've made an error. Also, you can't talk about a monthly rate until the month is over. We've seen high rates early in the month before and then the average shrinks.
I get your point, but accuracy is essential.
By
Praguetwin, at 1:18 PM
Praguetwin, Thank you.
I didn't notice the UK fatalities in my numbers, I will fix it immediately.
I'm out of the habit of looking at the nationalities in the listings because before the latest Basra flare up, deaths by any other participating country were exceedingly rare. It was sloppy on my part.
Thanks for the correction, I changed both the numbers and removed the monthly rate statement. I'm glad you caught it, because I wouldn't want an error to detract from my larger point.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 1:35 PM
You are welcome, Mike.
I know that it was unintentiional on your part and I gambled by pointing it out.
You larger point hasn't been lost on me. The point I try to drive home is it isn't getting better or worse. It is the same. Frighteningly the same, and getting more uniform with time. Mind-numbing.
Incidentlally, There were plenty on the right that were pointing to a declining "trend" a couple of months ago (especially after the March anomaly). Where are they now?
I'll be posting a half-time report on the European Leauge Campionship in about 10 min.
PT
By
Praguetwin, at 2:31 PM
I just watched it. I didn't post because it's midday here and people at work have to tape it, and I didn't want to spoil it. Going to have the same policy about the World Cup.
So please, don't post any spoilers. I had the US's huge win against Portugal ruined for me at the last world cup. It sucked.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 5:03 PM
Wow,
Thanks for the headsup. Won't happen again.
Great game.
By
Praguetwin, at 5:06 PM
You didn't spoil anything! And, honestly, it's not like there are legions of soccer fans in America, so the possibility of bursting someone's bubble is pretty minor, but as it happened to me once, I'm very sympathetic to the problem.
During the 2004 World Cup, I was able to read the front pages of the NYTimes and Wapo and Yahoo without learning the scores of the US's games!
Better coverage now, but still not a big story.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 5:53 PM
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