About effing time!

You Must Read This! It's an editorial in the NY Times written by a group of non-commissioned officers in Iraq. For me, this is the first money quote:

clipped from www.nytimes.com

The ability of, say, American observers to safely walk down the streets of formerly violent towns is not a resounding indicator of security. What matters is the experience of the local citizenry and the future of our counterinsurgency. When we take this view, we see that a vast majority of Iraqis feel increasingly insecure and view us as an occupation force that has failed to produce normalcy after four years and is increasingly unlikely to do so as we continue to arm each warring side.

Why do I highlight this? Because it points out very distinctly the problems I have with the Corporate Media. To put it nicely the Corporate Media has been an ardent cheerleader in the Iraq Adventure^TM and since I'm not feeling nice I will also call it what it is. They have whored themselves out to this failed administration and time and time again have carried their water.

In the next money quote, this group goes after our failed administration:

clipped from www.nytimes.com

Coupling our military strategy to an insistence that the Iraqis meet political benchmarks for reconciliation is also unhelpful. The morass in the government has fueled impatience and confusion while providing no semblance of security to average Iraqis. Leaders are far from arriving at a lasting political settlement. This should not be surprising, since a lasting political solution will not be possible while the military situation remains in constant flux.

And this:

clipped from www.nytimes.com

Washington’s insistence that the Iraqis correct the three gravest mistakes we made — de-Baathification, the dismantling of the Iraqi Army and the creation of a loose federalist system of government — places us at cross purposes with the government we have committed to support.

Have we seen any of the Serious People in Washington^TM say things like this? No. In fact they are all beating the drum (at least right now) of "The Surge^TM is working!" Which is wrong, not even nuanced wrong but just false. The Corporate media is not to be trusted with, well, much of anything really.

Finally, there is this:

clipped from www.nytimes.com

At the same time, the most important front in the counterinsurgency, improving basic social and economic conditions, is the one on which we have failed most miserably. Two million Iraqis are in refugee camps in bordering countries. Close to two million more are internally displaced and now fill many urban slums. Cities lack regular electricity, telephone services and sanitation.

Why hasn't this aspect improved? Why haven't we made a priority of getting basic services online? It doesn't take a rocket scientist or even a college degree to see that while the Iraqi people were probably pretty happy to get rid of Hussein they probably also had a fairly rational expectation that getting rid of him would make their lives better not worse. But really no one should be surprised by this failed administration's ability to get anything done, if you are surprised I have one word for you... Katrina.

Write your congressman and senators. The time to impeach came about years ago and it is almost too late.

[UPDATE] I imagine those who don't understand my dislike for the Corporate Media will bring up the fact that I am quoting from an editorial in a Corporate Media newspaper. Yes, you are right and I'm not going to say that we need to get rid of the Corporate Media, they do things and have access to things that no blogger can do or has (yet). But here are the real problems: 1) Too little, too late. Where the fuck have they been for the past 8 years? 2) This editorial was not written by anyone from the Corporate Media.