The media and Zarqawi and Haditha
The death of Zarqawi will be a problem for some in the media.
Rarely have two such disparate groups worked so indirectly in synch.
Zarqawi's media strategy was to make attacks that were militarily insignificant, that would attract big media coverage. He was much too week to attack US military units in Iraq, and on the few occasions he tried, his forces were destroyed, such as his failed attack on Abu
Ghraid and his failed attach at al Qaim. He has thereafter concentrated his attacks on non combatants. You would think with the attention that the media has focused on alleged events in Haditha, that they would recognize a war crime when they saw one, but I cannot recall one story on the murder of non combatants by Zarqawi, where the media mentioned that the attacks constituted a war crime. Nor does the media report on a regular basis that the enemy's failure to wear a distinguishing uniform is a violation of the Geneva Convention.
The media coverage aided the enemy's war strategy and thereby resulted in hundreds more civilian casualties than those that were allegedly killed by the Marines in Haditha.
Instead, the thrust of the stories on Zarqawi's murder of non combatants is that US policy is a failure because it has not stopped Zarqawi's attacks. In fact, these stories follow the al Qaeda script as if they were on the same page. How many stories have you seen on the wickedness of the enemy in Iraq? So now that Zarqawi has finally been stopped many in the media have already switched to "but it want stop the attacks" mode. The fact is that it will stop a lot of attacks because Zarqawi was the driving personality behind the attacks on non combatants.
It should be noted that there were a total of 17 raids done at the same time that led to the killing or capture of other terrorist leaders. What this suggest is that a major intelligence coup led to his demise and many more in his organizations. Early reports indicate that an Iraqi civilian provided the tip on his whereabouts. I hope he enjoys his $25 million. Regardless of the money, one of the leading indicators, or metrics showing the US is winning in Iraq, is the huge growth in actionable tips provided by Iraqis to the tip line and to Iraqi troops on patrol.
I am in the camp of those who think leadership matters in a group like al Qaeda and the degradation of al Qaeda leadership makes it much harder for the group to plan and execute effective attacks. There are many historic examples of insurgencies failing with the death of senior leadership no matter how popular the leader was. Che Gueveria is just one example. Other examples can be found in the Philippines and Central America insurgencies. (See Max Boot's The Savage Wars of Piece.)
Zarqawi's death is a significant victory over the forces of evil in the world. Sadly many on the left think that the us, its President, and its military are the forces of evil. That is why they are not rejoicing at this big victory in the war on terror.
BTW, I am at my parents house in a small town in Arkansas, that does not even have dial up internet access. This is being posted from a public library that does have DSL, but is only open a few hours in the afternoon. I should be back to regular blogging Friday evening.
Rarely have two such disparate groups worked so indirectly in synch.
Zarqawi's media strategy was to make attacks that were militarily insignificant, that would attract big media coverage. He was much too week to attack US military units in Iraq, and on the few occasions he tried, his forces were destroyed, such as his failed attack on Abu
Ghraid and his failed attach at al Qaim. He has thereafter concentrated his attacks on non combatants. You would think with the attention that the media has focused on alleged events in Haditha, that they would recognize a war crime when they saw one, but I cannot recall one story on the murder of non combatants by Zarqawi, where the media mentioned that the attacks constituted a war crime. Nor does the media report on a regular basis that the enemy's failure to wear a distinguishing uniform is a violation of the Geneva Convention.
The media coverage aided the enemy's war strategy and thereby resulted in hundreds more civilian casualties than those that were allegedly killed by the Marines in Haditha.
Instead, the thrust of the stories on Zarqawi's murder of non combatants is that US policy is a failure because it has not stopped Zarqawi's attacks. In fact, these stories follow the al Qaeda script as if they were on the same page. How many stories have you seen on the wickedness of the enemy in Iraq? So now that Zarqawi has finally been stopped many in the media have already switched to "but it want stop the attacks" mode. The fact is that it will stop a lot of attacks because Zarqawi was the driving personality behind the attacks on non combatants.
It should be noted that there were a total of 17 raids done at the same time that led to the killing or capture of other terrorist leaders. What this suggest is that a major intelligence coup led to his demise and many more in his organizations. Early reports indicate that an Iraqi civilian provided the tip on his whereabouts. I hope he enjoys his $25 million. Regardless of the money, one of the leading indicators, or metrics showing the US is winning in Iraq, is the huge growth in actionable tips provided by Iraqis to the tip line and to Iraqi troops on patrol.
I am in the camp of those who think leadership matters in a group like al Qaeda and the degradation of al Qaeda leadership makes it much harder for the group to plan and execute effective attacks. There are many historic examples of insurgencies failing with the death of senior leadership no matter how popular the leader was. Che Gueveria is just one example. Other examples can be found in the Philippines and Central America insurgencies. (See Max Boot's The Savage Wars of Piece.)
Zarqawi's death is a significant victory over the forces of evil in the world. Sadly many on the left think that the us, its President, and its military are the forces of evil. That is why they are not rejoicing at this big victory in the war on terror.
BTW, I am at my parents house in a small town in Arkansas, that does not even have dial up internet access. This is being posted from a public library that does have DSL, but is only open a few hours in the afternoon. I should be back to regular blogging Friday evening.
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