Reading the enemy's mail
David Ignatius:
"In wartime it's useful for one nation to see itself through the eyes of its adversary. Sometimes the other side is more disoriented and demoralized than the daily body count would suggest.
"Unable to read the enemy's mind in Vietnam, Americans didn't realize that even as they were despairing of victory after the Tet Offensive in 1968, the North Vietnamese felt themselves on the edge of defeat. The extent of Hanoi's weakness became clear only after the war, when Vietnamese commanders began to explain what the war had looked like from their side. (What is interesting about this statement is that the communist were admitting what the much maligned US military was saying at the time. American media was too intent on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory to listen. You see the same problem now particularly with publications like Newsweak and its reporter Dickey.)
"The Iraq war has just yielded a remarkable document that, if authentic, allows us to see the battle there through the eyes of Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian with ties to al Qaeda who claims to be organizing much of the terrorist insurgency against U.S. forces.
...
"Two striking conclusions emerge from the letter. The first is that the insurgents feel they are losing. Despite the daily mayhem caused by their attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces, they feel isolated and vulnerable. Zarqawi complains: 'Our enemy is growing stronger day after day, and its intelligence information increases. By God, this is suffocation!'
"Zarqawi sees the United States as a resilient, determined adversary. America, he warns his colleagues, 'has no intention of leaving [Iraq], no matter how many wounded nor how bloody it becomes.'
"What seems to worry Zarqawi most is the growth of Iraqi security forces....
"The second stunner in the Zarqawi letter is that it makes clear how much the Sunni insurgents despise Iraq's Shiite majority. These Sunni jihadists may dislike the American occupiers, but they positively hate the Shiites who will dominate a democratic Iraq....
"The Zarqawi letter reveals the face of America's enemy in Iraq. The insurgents are pursuing a cruel strategy, but by Zarqawi's account, it is a strategy born of weakness."
Contrast Ignatius's analysis with the truly trashy reporting of Newsweak's Christopher Dickey who literal goes to a dump to trash the US effort in Iraq. To Dickey the US is at best an inept bumbler possibly even evil. Newsweak has to ignor all evidence of al Qaeda operations in Iraq since it is apparently the magazines policy that they are not there much less that they are losing. In the week prior to the captur of the Zarqawi letter Dickey pictured the US forces in disarray in the face of the Iraqi "insurgents." Like the liberal who did not recognize what a disaster Tet ws for the communist, Newsweak keeps looking for the dark clouds in a remarkable success story.
David Ignatius:
"In wartime it's useful for one nation to see itself through the eyes of its adversary. Sometimes the other side is more disoriented and demoralized than the daily body count would suggest.
"Unable to read the enemy's mind in Vietnam, Americans didn't realize that even as they were despairing of victory after the Tet Offensive in 1968, the North Vietnamese felt themselves on the edge of defeat. The extent of Hanoi's weakness became clear only after the war, when Vietnamese commanders began to explain what the war had looked like from their side. (What is interesting about this statement is that the communist were admitting what the much maligned US military was saying at the time. American media was too intent on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory to listen. You see the same problem now particularly with publications like Newsweak and its reporter Dickey.)
"The Iraq war has just yielded a remarkable document that, if authentic, allows us to see the battle there through the eyes of Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian with ties to al Qaeda who claims to be organizing much of the terrorist insurgency against U.S. forces.
...
"Two striking conclusions emerge from the letter. The first is that the insurgents feel they are losing. Despite the daily mayhem caused by their attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces, they feel isolated and vulnerable. Zarqawi complains: 'Our enemy is growing stronger day after day, and its intelligence information increases. By God, this is suffocation!'
"Zarqawi sees the United States as a resilient, determined adversary. America, he warns his colleagues, 'has no intention of leaving [Iraq], no matter how many wounded nor how bloody it becomes.'
"What seems to worry Zarqawi most is the growth of Iraqi security forces....
"The second stunner in the Zarqawi letter is that it makes clear how much the Sunni insurgents despise Iraq's Shiite majority. These Sunni jihadists may dislike the American occupiers, but they positively hate the Shiites who will dominate a democratic Iraq....
"The Zarqawi letter reveals the face of America's enemy in Iraq. The insurgents are pursuing a cruel strategy, but by Zarqawi's account, it is a strategy born of weakness."
Contrast Ignatius's analysis with the truly trashy reporting of Newsweak's Christopher Dickey who literal goes to a dump to trash the US effort in Iraq. To Dickey the US is at best an inept bumbler possibly even evil. Newsweak has to ignor all evidence of al Qaeda operations in Iraq since it is apparently the magazines policy that they are not there much less that they are losing. In the week prior to the captur of the Zarqawi letter Dickey pictured the US forces in disarray in the face of the Iraqi "insurgents." Like the liberal who did not recognize what a disaster Tet ws for the communist, Newsweak keeps looking for the dark clouds in a remarkable success story.
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