The stories are all over the media today. The last US troops have left Iraq. This story has been swirling for the last two months with a major increase in volume in the last week. It has been instructive to follow the coverage and to discern the basic storyline that mainstream media has adopted. Here are the basic points:
1) The stories emphasize the number of casualties and the cost of the war.
2) Less than ten percent use the V word: Victory. That is the case even though America achieved its basic goals in the war. Saddam Hussein has been ousted. Iraq has become a functioning democracy which can act as an example to the rest of the Middle East. There is no sanctuary for terror groups in Iraq. Huge numbers of terrorists from al Qaeda were killed.
3) The war is portrayed as a success for president Obama's policies, even though the policies followed were those put in place by George Bush. Obama changed nothing. Further, Obama opposed nearly all these policies before he was elected president.
4) Little mention is made of the success of the surge in 2008. I found it in only one story. Of course, it was the surge that turned around the course of the Iraq war allowing the US to win.
5) This withdrawal is portrayed as the end of the Iraq war. Actually, this is the end of American troop deployments in Iraq. The war ended long ago, but, since it is against the storyline to mention victory, that could not be said. Sure, Iraq is not completely at peace, but there are very few terror attacks there now. Indeed, there are currently more terror attacks in Syria, Turkey and Iran which each border Iraq, and no one says that those countries are at war.
6) Little is said of the personal success of the members of the military. Each of these folks deserves to feel personal pride at the achievement of this goal. Each deserves our thanks and congratulations for a job well done.
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