Recent media coverage of the kidnappings in Iraq have covered up a deeper story: the deteriorating course of the war in Iraq. Near daily car bombings and mortar attacks in Baghdad (the capital city, for god's sake) are only the tip of the iceberg. Journalists are petrified to leave the heavily fortified Green Zone and venture out into the countryside to cover the war; instead, they stay in their hotels and watch Al Jazeera all day and attend Pentagon briefings. But occasionally a few brave reporters get stir crazy and venture out to get a story, or one of them digs a little deeper behind the official statements to find the truth US officials would prefer we don't see.

The Washington Post ran a story on July 22 by Doug Struck, who questioned Iraqi and US officials about tens of thousands of refugees who've been pouring into Baghdad from the north. After questioning the refugees, he found that these folks were leaving the city of Samarra because they expected a huge and bloody battle similar to the US Marine's invasion of Fallujah earlier this year. Apparently, guerrilla forces, tribal groups, and "religious gangs" have taken over Samarra, and it's become a no-go area for US troops. "There's no National Guard. And the police in town do their patrols, but they take their orders from the mujaheddin," one of the refugees told Struck. "The mujaheddin" is a common phrase used throughout Iraq to describe the home-grown insurgency. (Source: "Fearing Big Battle, Residents Flee," Doug Struck, Washington Post, 7/22/04, A14.)

Meanwhile, Knight Ridder reporter Tom Lasseter has been following US troops in Ramadi. He says that US troops have stopped patrolling most of Anbar province, which makes up about 40% of Iraq's total territory. US troops have stopped conducting routine patrols, because every patrol is shot at, regardless of where they go. They've cut back to running patrols only between fortified observation points, mostly to keep the communication and travel routes open between cities and towns. In other words, they've ceded control of a sizable chunk of Iraq to the guerrillas. (Source: "In the face of stubborn insurgency, troops scale back Anbar patrols," Tom Lasseter, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 7/22/04.)

US troops, however, are clinging to the city of Ramadi with both hands. If they lose Ramadi, the capital of Anbar--if it goes the way of Fallujah and Samarra--they will have lost the whole province. But they know it's a losing battle. In an admission that the insurgency is a home-grown, nationalist movement, Army intelligence Major Thomas Neemeyer told Lasseter, "The only way to stomp out the insurgency of the mind would be to kill the entire population." That, at least, can't happen while Lasseter is following them around. Thank heavens for one or two tenacious journalists. --Maria Tomchick

Recent media coverage of the kidnappings in Iraq have covered up a deeper story: the deteriorating course of the war in Iraq. Near daily car bombings and mortar attacks in Baghdad (the capitol city, for god's sake) are only the tip of the iceberg. Journalists are petrified to leave the heavily fortified Green Zone and venture out into the countryside to cover the war; instead, they stay in their hotels and watch Al Jazeera all day and attend Pentagon briefings. But occasionally a few brave reporters get stir crazy and venture out to get a story, or one of them digs a little deeper behind the official statements to find the truth US officials would prefer we don't see.

The Washington Post ran a story on July 22 by Doug Struck, who questioned Iraqi and US officials about tens of thousands of refugees who've been pouring into Baghdad from the north. After questioning the refugees, he found that these folks were leaving the city of Samarra because they expected a huge and bloody battle similar to the US Marine's invasion of Fallujah earlier this year. Apparently, guerrilla forces, tribal groups, and "religious gangs" have taken over Samarra, and it's become a no-go area for US troops. "There's no National Guard. And the police in town do their patrols, but they take their orders from the mujaheddin," one of the refugees told Struck. "The mujaheddin" is a common phrase used throughout Iraq to describe the home--grown insurgency. (Source: "Fearing Big Battle, Residents Flee," Doug Struck, Washington Post, 7/22/04, A14.)

Meanwhile, Knight Ridder reporter Tom Lasseter has been following US troops in Ramadi. He says that US troops have stopped patrolling most of Anbar province, which makes up about 40% of Iraq's total territory. US troops have stopped conducting routine patrols, because every patrol is shot at, regardless of where they go. They've cut back to running patrols only between fortified observation points, mostly to keep the communication and travel routes open between cities and towns. In other words, they've ceded control of a sizable chunk of Iraq to the guerrillas. (Source: "In the face of stubborn insurgency, troops scale back Anbar patrols," Tom Lasseter, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 7/22/04.)

US troops, however, are clinging to the city of Ramadi with both hands. If they lose Ramadi, the capital of Anbar--if it goes the way of Fallujah and Samarra--they will have lost the whole province. But they know it's a losing battle. In an admission that the insurgency is a home-grown, nationalist movement, Army intelligence Major Thomas Neemeyer told Lasseter, "The only way to stomp out the insurgency of the mind would be to kill the entire population." That, at least, can't happen while Lasseter is following them around. Thank heavens for one or two tenacious journalists. --Maria Tomchick