enough already, II

At first, I intended this post to be primarily about Wretchard's latest offering at The Belmont Club. But then I went searching for a news link to serve as an introduction.

And found this, from Sunday's WaPo (registration required).

President Plans Drive to Rescue Iraq Policy

President Bush will launch an ambitious campaign tomorrow night to shift attention from recent setbacks that have eroded domestic and international support for U.S. policy in Iraq, particularly the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and the escalating violence, and focus instead on the future of post-occupation Iraq. […]

The diplomatic campaign is a response to serious reversals over the past two months and to growing turmoil. Last week alone, the U.S.-appointed president of the Iraqi Governing Council was assassinated and a cabinet official was almost killed in a suicide bombing; in a disputed episode, more than 40 people were killed by U.S. troops at what Iraqis said was a wedding party; and 16 arrest warrants were issued for aides or associates of Ahmed Chalabi, a longtime Pentagon favorite to help lead postwar Iraq, on charges related to financial issues, leading him to sever ties with the U.S.-led coalition. […]

To shore up the coalition, Bush will also begin hosting leaders of countries that have troops in Iraq. The United States is intent on stopping contributing nations from pulling out after the June 30 handover, because some nations have mandates to stay in Iraq only until the U.S.-led occupation ends and sovereignty is restored. Spain and Honduras have withdrawn troops, partly in response to the escalating violence.

The Billings, Montana Gazette has a shorter version of the same story, with the suggestive headline Bush set to launch campaign to divert attention from Iraq setbacks.

One wonders at what point framing a story to fit a desired narrative becomes indistinguishable from lying.

Let's count the ways.

(1) By what reasonable criteria can the violence be said to be “escalating,” and the turmoil “growing”? April was the bloodiest month for Coalition troops since the end of major combat last spring; but the number of casualties for the month of May has thus far been significantly lower. We are winning on the ground in Fallujah, [see update below] and the clownish Moqtada al-Sadr draws ever closer to winning the martyrdom to which he claims to aspire. There are continued assassinations and assassination attempts. But these have been happening all along, with little evidence of “escalation.” Moreover, there has not been a large-scale terror attack against Iraqi civilians for some months, and most of the country remains relatively quiet.

(2) Oh yes, Spain and Honduras have withdrawn their troops because of violence. But that would be violence in Madrid, not Iraq. Robin Wright—the author of this piece—undoubtedly knows this. Hence the weasel word “partly.”

Nonetheless: The claim is an exercise in mendacity, and Wright ought to be censured.

As if.

(3) Noticeably absent from the mention of the “wedding party” incident is context—such as, for instance, the Pentagon's insistence that there was no such gathering.

There are no indications a wedding party took place at a remote desert site in western Iraq near the Syrian border where U.S. forces are accused of killing about 20 people May 19, including women and children, a senior military spokesman said today.

“Contrary to media reports, there was no wedding tent and no nuptial tent in the area,” Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy operations director for Multinational Force Iraq said during a Baghdad news conference.

“To the allegation that there was a wedding going on, there was no evidence of a wedding,” Kimmitt reiterated. “There were no decorations, no musical instruments found, no large quantities of food or leftover servings one would expect from a wedding celebration and no gifts.

“The men were almost all military-aged, no family elders that one would expect to see at an event of this type,” he said.

As Wretchard notes, the final word on this event is yet to come. But the DoD account has been consistent for some days, and Wright's only concession to this fact is to note that the episode is “disputed.”

One cannot allow inconvenient details to get in the way of one's doom-mongering, it would seem.

So much for introduction. Before this side trip, I intended only to note the President's address planned for Monday night, as context for this:

The three metaphorical elephants that will be sitting in the room when President Bush begins his speech on Monday are the unacknowledged belligerence of Syria, Iran and the role the syndicate of corruption centered around the Oil for Food Program plays in shaping postwar Iraq. None of these three forces, which have been vying for influence in post-Saddam Iraq, have been given prominent coverage by the media, which has focused on Abu Ghraib. Yet neither the heavy April fighting, nor the continuing maneuvers against Moqtada al-Sadr nor the brouhaha over Chalabi and most of all the process of selecting the interim government can be understood without them. The shape of the next fifty years in the Middle East will be determined by these hulking, but largely invisible issues while viewers are regaled with the sight of Ba'athists crowned with women's underpants. It will be interesting to see whether President Bush mentions Syria, Iran or the power politics being played through Lakhdar Brahimi at all in his coming speech at the War College, and if he does, how long it will take before the media switch to a replay of the gallery at the 9/11 commission heckling Rudy Giuliani.

The stakes could not be higher. But our heroic press cares not a whit about the welfare of Iraqis, or even our own strategic interests. For they have a greater purpose: to bring down an Administration, the consequences be damned.

UPDATE: Over to Steven Den Beste.

UPDATE 061704. Given a few weeks' hindsight, the claim struck out above seems at least questionable. But even at the time of initial posting there was insufficient warrant for me to be that emphatic. Mea culpa.