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A progress report on the 30,000-troop US offensive in the provinces surrounding Baghdad was the Story of the Day. NBC led from Baghdad with the sweep while CBS and ABC covered it later in their newscasts from the Pentagon. For its lead, ABC chose to hype an online service that really does not allow heart patients to compare the quality of cardiac care at various hospitals. The environment was the day's theme on CBS, with stories on air quality, fuel efficiency and changes in the Great Lakes ecosystem.

The US-led offensive is supposedly a big deal, "the most ambitious operation since the fall of Saddam Hussein," according to ABC's Jonathan Karl (subscription required). From Baghdad, NBC's Jim Maceda diagrammed a four-pronged attack: a 10,000-strong siege of Baqubah northeast of the capital; a 2,500-strong blockade of the city's southeastern approaches; a helicopter-led attack on safe houses in the so-called Triangle of Death to the southwest; and the Marine Corps deployed to block western escape routes in al-Anbar Province.

NBC's Maceda said that this operation uses "all of the 30,000 troop surge." At the Pentagon, CBS' David Martin reminded us that "the stated purpose" of the surge was "to protect the Iraqi people." Yet Martin noted that Peter Pace, the outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has changed that purpose: "It is not about the level of violence," he announced. The new goal of the surge is to make "progress…in the minds of the Iraqi people."

As for the target of the offensive, all three correspondents suggested that the US military is no longer worried about Shiite militias or Sunni insurgents. The entire operation is apparently directed towards al-Qaeda--although no one explained how they are commanded or controled by Osama bin Laden's operation along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. From Baghdad, NBC's Maceda reported success, that the offensive has "trapped al-Qaeda in three neighborhoods in Baqubah." The two Pentagon correspondents found failure. CBS' Martin reported that "most of al-Qaeda's senior leaders managed to escape, leaving behind a maze of deadly boobytraps;" and ABC's Karl quoted an unnamed military spokesman: "It is like jelly in a sandwich. It squirts when you squeeze it."

If the offensive is so important, the networks' coverage has been cursory, confusing and lacking in curiosity. Let us remind ourselves of Commander-in-Chief George Bush's plan for the so-called surge. It was designed to quell Sunni-vs-Shiite sectarian violence in the capital in order to provide sufficient security for politicians representing all political factions to make the necessary concessions for compromise. Now, it looks like the Pentagon has changed its battlefield, its enemy and its strategy. If so, that is huge news. But the audience is left to draw that conclusion by observing omissions and vocabulary changes. We deserve direct reporting instead.

Andrew Tyndall 6/22/07 9:09:01 pm

mullah cimoc say each ameriki having two gonad so jealous of mujahid fighters in Baquoba.

usa army say of them mujahid: a 'hardline group of fighters who have no intention of leaving.'

These hardline man all having the two gonad.

Ameriki having the two gonad him understand. But so many ameriki now the feminzied like woman not having even one gonad.

USA media make all ameriki man accepting the woman to rule over him. The war reportr him the woman. the power person in tv show him the woman. this to make ameriki man the obedient.

Now ameirki society becoming so the sick. Is the punish for cruel and torture in iraq?

Google: mighty wurlitzer +cia learn how ameriki media so control now. all for serve masters in tel aviv.

also: ameriki woman now so slut with LBT (low back tattoo) and the so skinny and cannot having the child, just loving dog and cat.
- anonymous (guest) 06-23-2007 04:47 am

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