Real Reportage vs. Bright Shiny Objects

US now winning Iraq war that seemed lost - AP analysis

I'm quoting the analysis in sentences in bold.


...there is something in the air in Iraq this summer.

I guess "hope is in the air" was too strong a phrase.


[The Sunnis] now are either sidelined or have switched sides to cooperate with the Americans in return for money and political support.

Are those suitcases of money sent weekly or monthly?


...the combat phase finally is ending...

Interesting phraseology -not-
...the combat phase may soon be ending...
or
...the combat phase is finally probably ending...
or
...the combat phase could end soon...

No. According to the reporters it's unequivocal. It's happening and it's happening now.


EDITOR'S NOTE Robert Burns is AP's chief military reporter, and Robert Reid is AP's chief of bureau in Baghdad. Reid has covered the war from his post in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in March 2003. Burns, based in Washington, has made 21 reporting trips to Iraq; on his latest during July, Burns spent nearly three weeks in central and northern Iraq, observing military operations and interviewing both U.S. and Iraqi officers.

I'm the writers meet with 100% US military approval.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist. Maybe the combat phase is actually ending. The problem is that this war has been different from other US wars. The US military-slash-government - from the very beginning - decided to tightly control everything they could about Iraq.

Nobody is covering the war in Iraq that the US doesn't approve of.

The New York Times: By a recent count, only half a dozen Western photographers were covering a war in which 150,000 American troops are engaged.

I'm sure there are at least fifteen times as many photographers hiding in the woods near Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie's house with their cams are the ready. Everybody wants to see pics of the babies.