Brian Williams on NBC News just said it: "Losing the war"

[Barrett808]

In an excellent story on an ER in Baghdad. They showed the wounded children, the archaic equipment, the filthy conditions, and the weeping families.

They could have shown this imagery two years ago, of course. So what's changed?

[knowbody0]

1. let's hope this becomes everyday reporting

[bigwillq]

2. Nice.

We should never become immune to the violence in Iraq.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Recommending. Let's see the "truth tour" trump this

[Carla in Ca]

10. That was my next question

Are they still going? How do you report people without water and enough to eat as positive? They will see a horrible truth.

[jmaier]

4. 2 years ago, we had barely begun to lose!

It takes time to whip up a good loss -- Clearly this administration is gifted but even they take a reasonable amount of time to achieve a catastrophic failure ... er success.

[KharmaTrain]

9. It's Also Getting Harder To Get A "Good Story"

Our "journalists" in Iraq are holed up in the Green Zone...living off second-hand reports or DOD set-ups. There's not much they can cover-up anymore as this invasion drags on with no end in sight and the popularity had long since faded.

I keep drawing Vietnam parallels...and I kinda peg us at being somewhere in early 1967 right now. The meme at that time was "we were winning the war" and most people thought the war was still worthwhile. Sadly it took a Tet to shake the mentality to the level of tolerating Vietnam to finally wanting an end to it. We haven't even crossed into that realm in this sorrid invasion.

Cheers...

[WCGreen]

20. The funny thing is we won. We beat back the TET

offensive....

But because they had such a coordinated effort and stuck from everywhere at once, the perseption was ingrained in the American Physce that things were out of our control....

Amd that, to an America that is always in control, was as good as a loss....

[KharmaTrain]

21. Winning The Battle...Losing The War

Yes, the VC was all but wiped out as a fighting entity after Tet...NVA ran the show the rest of the way. Our military fought some of the bravest battles of our times during that offensive. I fear that may happen again in this misadventure.

The PR battle was lost once and for all with Tet. Our military brass then, like now, was full of their own superiority...there was no way we could lose this thing...or that we could win if "if the politicians didn't tie our hands". History is surely repeating. Sadly.

Cheers...

[WCGreen]

23. I know guys that were there during TET...

One of my good friends still suffers from PTS....

He was up by the border, going into the tunnels...

He's never gonna get over it....

[KharmaTrain]

24. I Knew Several As Well

One was in the Marine in Hue...his story is close to the second part of Full Metal Jacket. He came back with PTS...but we didn't really understand it at the time...just thought the guy was "crazy".

Another is still a very good friend...was a Green Beret and served in S & D missions. It took many years of working with him and a bunch of drinks on a Friday night to get him to open up about some of the things he went through in the Mekong delta.

Sadly, not only are we creating a new generation that we'll have to take care of for decades to come...but with these stop loses and extended tours, the PTSD coming back now is far worse than what we dealt with in Vietnam.

[ptolle]

33. reporting from cover

The previous post makes no mention of the fact that any reporter venturing out for a firsthand look is in danger from both sides of the conflict, as a representative of the invader/occupier by the insurgents, and as a representative of the treasonous, libelous "liberal media" by american troops.Might be interesting to do a tally to see which side has rung up the "better" score.

[leveymg]

5. The big suits have said, time to cut our losses.

The whole thing is a disaster, right back to 9/11. The big gambit that was supposed to lead to the fall of the House of Saud failed. BushCo have scapegoated the intel professionals, and the WH operatives have been playing a visibly treasonous game in a lame attempt to crawl out of the frying pan. Believe me, the folks at CIA and DIA see right through the Rovian dirty-tricks. While most of them are probably still Republicans, they won't and can't let Shrub and his crew get away with this. They can't, because if they do, BushCo will sacrifice them all and the entire country in the quest for glorious conquest, which would be * and the neocon's only redemption. They won't because the career Agency people are only human, and they too want revenge.

This is different. The pols aren't weaseling out this time. Do you think any of the media suits would be going bonzai right now, unless the higher-ups first said, "Go ahead, kids, have some fun"?

Why do so many powerful people hate Bush, seemingly all of a sudden? No, this isn't about Rove. It's payback time.

Mark

[madrchsod]

7. i know for a fact that the media

was told not to report the full story of the woman who were blow into little pieces a couple of weeks ago in the truck bombing...no pictures were to be shown,etc,etc..and this wasn`t the first time they were told not to cover a story about the war..yes the boys at the top are fed up-bush is an embarrassment.

[raccoon]

31. Not saying it isn't so--how do you know that? nt

[madrchsod]

6. bush is finished

the guys at the top are fed up and aren`t going to waste anymore money or time on bush. he screwed up so bad even they realise he was a bad investment in the long run. they have unleashed the dogs of war on bush now so someone can emerge in 2008 to keep the presidency. their biggest fear is that they will lose the senate and the house in 2006. a whole lot of shit has to get better before 2006 or they`ll lose their rubber stamps

[leveymg]

11. My bet is that Team B will be a caretaker gov't. Then in 2008 a McCain-

Lieberman "United We Stand" third-party will face a weak Republican ticket and an unelectable DLC Democratic candidate, likely Hillary.

No telling which of the three will gain a plurality, but my guess, this is the end for American global domination. We'll see a steady capital flight, and a burst of the real estate/credit bubble accompanied by a huge rise in energy prices and interest rates. In an America utterly unprepared and ill-led, everything will change. It's not going to be pretty.

Strangely, we and Republican members of the reality-based community are the last best hope.

[FredStembottom]

25. As I said in another thread

Media consolidation means that a handful of men can turn the Captive Media back "on" to start doing the reporting that this same handful had turned "off" for political gain.

Thanks, Mad... for now supplying me with the reason the switch was thrown to "on".

Bushco is a political Enron. Super bad investment. Now they want to cash-out with enough time left to make John McCain (or someone) the pretty new face of Republicanism by 2008.

Hopefully, 2006 will make that dream hopeless as well!

[Barrett808]

27. I think this is why the latest British memo on troop drawdrowns leaked

The only conceivable reason for reducing US troop strength to 66,000 next year is to cut the albatross from around the GOP's neck. There is nothing on the ground to justify a drawdown now. Things are as bad as they ever have been.

Handing over 14 of the 18 provinces to Iraqi forces at the start of 2006 is tantamount to surrender; the Iraqi forces are thoroughly infiltrated by the insurgency. Those that aren't infiltrated are woefully inadequate to the task.

[Barrett808]

32. It does seem like the edifice is cracking

I want to see perp walks.

[BurtWorm]

8. Did they cop it from Dahr Jamail?

He was just on Democracy Now this morning with this very story.

[kestrel91316]

12. I'm sure Brian will apologize on air tomorrow ............

for disparaging our leader by saying this.

[cynatnite]

13. It was a moving story that should've been told a long time ago n/t

[KoKo]

14. Bush's Poll Numbers tanking. Money to be made from ratings...so they

"switch the spin" from "Good Bush...War President...keeping us Safe..Leader, Commander in Chief, courage under fire...yadda, yadda..plus BIG COD PIECE....to Bad Bush...Bad President...not keeping folks safe, losing confidence of American People, not getting SS enacted (Corporations and Wall Street are breathing down his neck and Frist's and he now has a SCANDAL!)

Whore's turn the tricks for who pays them the most...sadly. And, it's all about "making a living." :-(

[leftchick]

15. I wish he had shown the funeral tents as well...

But I am satisfied with any real news from Iraq. RIP little ones..

:(



A row of tents, set up for family funerals, line a Baghdad, Iraq street Thursday, July 14, 2005 after a suicide car bomb attack the day before. On Wednesday, a suicide car bomb exploded next to U.S. troops handing out candy and toys, killing up to 27 people including 18 children and teenagers. 70 others were wounded including three U.S. soldiers. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

[yorkiemommie1]

22. i had not seen this picture

how incredibly sad.

[mcctatas]

29. Baby steps...

we don't want them to OD on reporting of facts, lest they fall back into their old habits out of....well habit I guess. Great sig line, I love Galloway, wish we could clone him!:toast:

[ultraist]

16. The media is finally catching up with the people

The approval ratings on the Iraq war are VERY LOW. The M$M now knows it's safe to start reporting some truth on the war and the situation in Afghanistan. They cannot afford to lose all of their viewers, now can they?

[AnnInLa]

17. "losing the war" can you explain how he said this?

Can you remember his complete sentence/paragraph...in your own words, of course?

[Barrett808]

26. He was quoting one of the Iraqis he interviewed

I think it was one of the doctors. An old man was weeping against a grimy old wall, probably for a family member in the ER. Then the correspondent repeated the phrase: "Losing the war." Not sure if it was Brian Williams narrating or the correspondent.

This followed a grueling minute of footage showing wounded children, the one ancient x-ray machine, bloody surgical gloves tossed into a filthy corner. A police officer leaned over a cot and kissed a wounded child on the cheek. The reporter was standing in front of a surgical table, and a man lay there in the background, screaming repeatedly.

It was amazing. Real journalism, finally.

[agingdem]

18. It's more like we "won" the war but...

lost the peace.

[jbnow]

34. or it's like "It's over, nobody wins"

As soon as I read he said we are losing I thought how they are losing to. An old Kristoffer son song came to mind:

Anymore it doesn't matter who's right or wrong.
We've been injurin' each other much too long.
'Cause it's a shame to make the same mistake again and again.
It's over; nobody wins.

I do agree with you too, we lost the peace except...it was never ours to lose. We only went prepared for war...if we were there to bring peace through war we'd have protected more then the oil ministries. We did it in a way sure to bring despair and chaos. Not just arrogant and evil, but stupid too.

Were they really stupid enough to think we'd be welcomed or is there something bush group gains from ongoing chaos?

[jokerman93]

35. Lots to gain

It's the corporate boondoggle angle. The military burns them down or bombs them out. Halliburton and Bechtel come in and rebuild (on our tax dime). Then they burn it all down again.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

The people at the top laugh all the way to the bank either way.

[KLF44]

19. How dare he

show nothing but the bad stuff going on and nothing about all the good stuff happening. :sarcasm:

[Algorem]

28. Brian Williams is on new Conan O'Brien tonight,maybe he'll say some-

thing worth hearing...

[Algorem]

30. not