The State Department overlooks all the ‘good news’

March 29, 2006

The real problem with public perceptions on the war in Iraq, the White House and its allies argue, is that we’re all too focused on the negative. News outlets focus on violence, kidnappings, U.S. casualties, and a country on the brink of disaster. Conservatives have argued that the media is not only misleading the electorate, it’s actually making the challenges in Iraq worse.

Apparently, the U.S. State Department didn’t get the memo. (thanks to reader DH for the tip)

From the State Department’s current Iraq travel advisory:

“. . . strongly warn U.S. citizens against travel to Iraq, which remains very dangerous . . . planned and random killings, as well as extortions and kidnappings . . . continue to be targeted by insurgent groups and opportunistic criminals for kidnapping and murder . . . credible information that terrorists are targeting civil aviation. … Extremely high risk to road transportation . . . attacks occur throughout the day . . . heavy use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), especially new-type Explosively Formed Penetrators (EFPs). …”

Yet once again, we don’t hear about all the good things happening there.

In fact, here’s the full advisory from the State Department. It’s quite a downer — the report characterizes the life of everyone in Iraq as being in near-constant danger.

What about traveling to some of the more stable provinces? Where are the references to schools that have been opened? It’s a shame that the State Department has been swayed by the underhanded media that has scurrilously convinced Americans that all is not well in Iraq.

Keith Olbermann ran this story a couple of nights ago – classic misdirection by the Bushies. And by the way, how did Olbermann, a long time favorite since his days on SportsCenter years ago, become the only journalist on TV who’s willing to call BS on Bush, Cheney, et al.? He closes every show with “it is now 1,057 days since the declaration of Mission Accomplished in Iraq.”

  • Just ask GOP candidate Howard Kaloogian, who’s running for Duke Cunningham’s seat…

    “We took this photo of dowtown Baghdad while we were in Iraq. Iraq (including Baghdad) is much more calm and stable than what many people believe it to be. But, each day the news media finds any violence occurring in the country and screams and shouts about it – in part because many journalists are opposed to the U.S. effort to fight terrorism.”

    Except there’s a slight problem with that photo.

  • Wow! The Republicanite party replaces criminal Randy ‘Duke’ Cunningham with inept lier Howard Kaloogian.

    The girl left of the picture in the sleveless pink top sells it to me 😉

  • Gotta see the clip linked from AmericaBlog – Lara Logan telling the truth about the “good news/bad news” dichotomoy in Iraq. Wish we could hear more of this.

    Great stuff.

  • From Kevin today:

    “Starting this month, U.S. government civilians serving in Iraq and in Afghanistan outside of Kabul are receiving an extra 35 percent above their base salaries for hardship and another 35 percent for danger. Previously, they were paid 25 percent extra for each category, the limits the government had set decades ago for any foreign post.

    ….”The idea was to recognize service at our most difficult and dangerous posts, and foremost among those posts are Iraq and Afghanistan,” said a senior State Department official.”

    Those stuffed shirts at Foggy Bottom sure don’t seem to be good loyal followers of the Lemming Party, do they???

    As to Kaloogian, only among the otherwise-unemployables of the retired military who spend their lives in northern San Diego county would this long-ago-publically-identified clown be seen as anything other than what he is. The problem with northern San Diego county is what it has been for a long time: “You can always tell a Marine, but you can’t tell him much.”

  • Geez, it must suck over there. If you have to pay people 70% above and beyond their regular salary to convince them to sit at a desk in a fortified compound, then lordy! (Thanks for the info, Tom Cleaver!)

    Of course, I don’t suppose the soldiers get quite that much.

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