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Things continue to improve
Here’s more good news out of Iraq. Yesterday, the General in Charge of Coalition forces, Gen. George W. Casey, Jr, USA, gave a rare news conference. Here’s a pretty large segment of what he had to say. (All emphasis is mine.)
First of all, the insurgency that we’re fighting is not 10 feet tall. They’re a tough, aggressive enemy, but they’re not 10 feet tall. They’re the same people who have oppressed the Iraqi people for the last 30 years. They’re the reason that over a million Iraqis are missing and why probably several hundred thousand of those missing Iraqis are likely in mass graves around Iraq. They’re focused on their return to dominance, so that they can continue to plunder the great natural resources of Iraq. They offer no alternative vision. They offer only intimidation and subjugation.
With the win in Fallujah, with the liberation of Fallujah, they no longer have any safe havens anywhere in Iraq. And also, as a result of the success in Fallujah, it was driven home to them that they cannot defeat the coalition forces.
So they’re attacking our will and the will of the Iraqi people, and I personally do not believe that they will defeat the indomitable spirit of 25 million free people who want to build a better life for themselves and for their families.
Second point: The Iraqi security forces are getting stronger every day. Our plan to build the Iraqi military and police forces is broadly on track. By February there will be 70 trained and equipped battalions in the Iraqi army; one of those will be a mechanized infantry battalion.
Progress has also been made in the police and special police forces. By February there will be six public order battalions, a special police regiment, four police commando battalions and some nine regional SWAT teams — special weapons and tactics teams — all of them contributing to the fight against the insurgents and the terrorists on a day-to-day basis. As most of you know, we still have a way to go in this area, but as I said, we’re broadly on track and generally very pleased with the performance of the Iraqi security forces.
Third point: Reconstruction momentum is building. In June there were only around 230 projects actually what we call turning dirt, actually started, on the ground. By the end of November there were over 1,000, with a value of over $3 billion. All of this in spite of insurgents’ efforts to disrupt the reconstruction process. This is a great tribute to the folks that work on those projects, particularly in the embassy and the coalition businessmen and women who are over there working to build a better Iraq.
Fourth point: The interim government and their security forces are broadly accepted by the Iraqi people. Some poll ratings for the government are as high as 70 percent approval rating. The Iraqi people express a generally favorable opinion about their new army and about their police, and more than 60 percent of Iraqis believe that the country is headed in the right direction and they are optimistic about their future.
We’re also broadly on track for the elections. Fourteen of the 18 provinces have less than — four or less incidents of violence a day, and the registration process in most of the country was executed. The Iraqi election committee is working on some alternative solutions for the two areas of the country in which it was disrupted.
I want to be clear: The insurgents and the terrorists will continue to attack and attempt to disrupt the election process. And we see that daily. They won’t succeed. And the elections in January will then be but another step forward in our relentless progress toward a new Iraq.
Now if I could just say a word to the home audience here in the United States. As a nation you can take great pride in the role that our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are playing in helping build a new, and better Iraq. Each and every one of them recognizes the importance that successfully accomplishing this mission holds for our own security, and each and every one of them makes a difference every day. Wherever I go I see their acts of bravery, compassion and selflessness, and I couldn’t be prouder of these wonderful men and women.
Things are improving. No matter what you might read from others.
MickC @ December 17, 2004
I have nothing but admiration for spin doctors. It’s a proud and difficult calling, and they get little glory. So hats off to them.
And I’m delighted to hear that the insurgents aren’t ten feet tall…a point so pivotal that it is repeated twice. I hadn’t heard that they WERE ten feet tall, but it’s a real relief to be reassured that they aren’t. Pity in a way, because it would have made them easier to pick out. But still.
I enjoy picking out qualifiers in releases like these…those little words carefully inserted to cover the fact that you’re trying to give an impression which might be somewhat at variance with the facts. “Broadly” appears to be one of General Casey’s favourites (as in “broadly on track”, which means, of course, “we are not meeting our projections, but by selectively presenting information I can give you the impression that we are”). This particular release is bursting with qualifiers…”reconstruction is ‘building’ (har har, good pun, General, sir)…”some polls”…”generally”…and usually that’s a sign that the speechwriters are trying to pick good news out of a mess, rather in the way that egrets pick tiny grains out of elephant turds.
It sure is good to know that the insurgents aren’t ten feet high (a point that the General thinks is important enough to repeat twice). That would certainly be disconcerting, although you would think it would make them easier to identify and shoot, and eliminate the unfortunate deaths of non-insurgent civilians. Still, I suppose it’s a good thing.
In the spirit of Christmas, I shall refrain from pointing out the number of times the General uses the weaselly qualifier “broadly on track”, which of course, in Spin Dialect means “not on track at all”. When you’re achieving your objectives, you say so. When you’re not, you introduce words like “broadly accepted”, “somewhat”, “largely”…you refer to “some polls” and a “generally favourable” public opinion. And of course, you avoid the bad news: the escalation in “significant incidents of violence”, the rapid decline in support for American troops in the country, and so on.
Calling this “good news”, I’m afraid, is like picking grains of rice out of a giant elephant turd.
…that which you then go on to point out. I guess there’s not so much spirit in Christmas anymore, eh?
I think he did mention specific objectives which are being met. To wit:
1) Troops are being trained and numbers are on track to having 70 battalions (of approximate 550 men each).
2) Reconstruction is ramping up from 230 past the planning stages in June to more than 1,000 today.
3) Poll ratings are climbing.
4) Iraq is on track for democratic elections in January.
But, in the spirit of Christmas, I won’t point that out.
Sorry I posted that first thing twice, M…please feel free to delete one of them. I didn;t realize there was a delay between posting and appearance, and I thought I had done something incorrectly.
The point of my post was that several of the phrases are carefully constructed spin. If a statement this heavily qualified were released by a critic of the occupation, it would be torn to pieces: I’m pointing out the smoke and mirrors. This feel-good piece is pure spin.
An “objective” is a specific, measurable, time-based articulation of a goal. If I tell you I have ten thousand men trained , that sounds great…unless my objective was to have fifty thousand men trained, because fifty thousand will be required to do the job.
Since the general’s statement doesn’t actually specify what the objectives were in any of those areas…they’re nice fluff, but they, in fact, represent serious failures rather than successes.
More obvious spin is the use of meaningless phrases like: “Some poll ratings for the government are as high as 70 percent approval rating.”
Heck, if I ran twenty polls, didn’t clarify what the questions had been, what constituted “approval”, how the sample was selected and analyzed, and looked at the best two results…I think I could say that “some polls” were “as high as” pretty much anything I wanted.
Your analysis of the Lancet brouhaha was excellent. May I suggest to you are applying the same high critical standard to the general’s statement?
Correction. In paragraph four, final phrase should read “…MAY represent serious failures”. Office Christmas party last night. You understand.
I’m gonna have to question this as well.
The “advancements” are primarily military in nature, the “reconstruction projects” are unnamed, and “some” polls show the installed leadership in a good light….. not a whole lot of information there.