Bias in News Reporting on Iraq. Say it isn't so.

An article from the Times Online states, "Ferocity of Iraq attacks leaves US troops helpless". Interesting when you read down the article find out that,

US and Iraqi troops also killed 22 insurgents and an Iraqi civilian, and destroyed a factory being used to make roadside bombs, during raids north of Baghdad yesterday.

In another article by the AFP at Yahoo entitled, "US, Iraqi forces kill more than 50 insurgents", one gets the sense that US, Iraqi forces are not helpless.

In fact, it appears coalition forces are killing a significant amount of insurgents, destroying their IED factories, and not suffering any (or few) freindly casualties in the process. Both of these articles point to 77 insurgents who went to Allah this weekend.

Now, don't get me wrong. A lot of blood is being spilled in Iraq (specifically in Baghdad where reporters are housed) and civilians are suffering the brunt of the violence. However, I would never say that US or Iraqi forces are "helpless". On the contrary, I would say that they are extremely effective against terrorists and when engaged directly by them, they overwhelmingly are victorious.

At the tactical level, both American and Iraqi troops are able to win consistently over insurgents and terrorists. At the strategic level, US forces need to quell other countries from aiding the terrorists.

Far from illiciting help from Iran or Syria as one of these articles highlights, we should engage them militarily (air or naval) until they stop supporting this insurgency. While US and Iraqi forces have done a good job at limiting their base of support inside Iraq, strategically, we have not done a good job of limiting their base of support from outside Iraq.

Unless the Bush adminstration takes the fight to the enemy, namely Iran and Syria, all we can hope for is a status quo of more violence and instability in the region and a continuation of our forces being tied up in Iraq.