Bush Succeeds in Iraq

It appears that the Bush administration has succeeded in convincing the press the war is virtually over, except for a few pockets of resistance and a few political details. This is the same pattern that we saw in Afghanistan, and in the early stages of the Iraq war. Nothing to see, folks, just move along. And the effect of the administration's assurances has been the same: a drop off in press coverage has led to a loss of interest among the American public.

So what has the American public missed over the last couple of days? Let's have a look:

Parked car bomb kills 18, wounds dozens in central Baghdad

12 soldiers die in 3 days

Kidnapped Iraqi archbishop dead

Five beheaded in Al Qaeda attack on Iraq village

Basra's last neurologist is murdered

Severed fingers of 5 hostages held in Iraq delivered to U.S.

And that's just a small sample. If you're really interested in knowing how things are going, check out the butcher's bill over at Iraq Today. Every day, they compile most of the media reports on the violence in Iraq. And of course, much of the violence never gets reported. The bodies turn up weeks later, if they turn up at all. Currently, there are between 375,000 and 1 million Iraqis who cannot be accounted for at all.

But for most Americans, none of that exists. 53% of us now believe “the U.S. will ultimately succeed in achieving its goals” in Iraq. There is no city of 2.5 million people that doesn't have a single neurologist. There are not hundreds of thousands of missing persons, and millions of refugees. Iraq does not have to import natural gas, gasoline, kerosene, and fuel oil because its infrastructure is still in ruins. There are no murdered archbishops and no severed fingers. Thanks to the salesmanship of the Bush administration and the gullibility of the American press, most Americans now think that victory is at hand.

Mission accomplished, Mr. Bush.

(cross posted at Liberal Avenger) (via appletree)