Things you should know...

... and won't read in or hear from the MSM.

The Anchoress (and I'll come back to her) points us to Power Line who has some damned must read things to say:

It is universally acknowledged that public support for the Iraq war is eroding. Some of the polls supporting this claim are faulty because they are based on obviously misleading internal data, but the basic point cannot be denied: many Americans, possibly even a majority, have turned against the war.

This should hardly be a surprise. On the contrary, how could it be otherwise? News reporting on the war consists almost entirely of itemizing casualties. Headlines say: "Two Marines killed by roadside bomb." Rarely do the accompanying stories--let alone the headlines that are all that most people read--explain where the Marines were going, or why; what strategic objective they and their comrades were pursuing, and how successful they were in achieving it; or how many terrorists were also killed. For Americans who do not seek out alternative news sources like this one, the war in Iraq is little but a succession of American casualties. The wonder is that so many Americans do, nevertheless, support it.

...

The media's breathless tabulation of casualties in Iraq--now, over 1,800 deaths--is generally devoid of context. Here's some context: between 1983 and 1996, 18,006 American military personnel died accidentally in the service of their country. That death rate of 1,286 per year exceeds the rate of combat deaths in Iraq by a ratio of nearly two to one.

That's right: all through the years when hardly anyone was paying attention, soldiers, sailors and Marines were dying in accidents, training and otherwise, at nearly twice the rate of combat deaths in Iraq from the start of the war in 2003 to the present. Somehow, though, when there was no political hay to be made, I don't recall any great outcry, or gleeful reporting, or erecting of crosses in the President's home town. In fact, I'll offer a free six-pack to the first person who can find evidence that any liberal expressed concern--any concern--about the 18,006 American service members who died accidentally in service of their country from 1983 to 1996.

Now, let me take you back to The Anchoress, who summarizes things so succinctly and beautifully I simply had to link to it (and excerpt it):

It took a while, but the left, the Democrats and the press, who have been pining away to relive the glory days of their Vietnam protests have finally managed, after two years of relentlessly negative press about the war, two years of relentlessly negative press about the President, two years of daily tabulations of dead soldiers, provided without context two years of nonsensical “we support the troops, but not the war,” gibberish and now, the Summer of Mrs. Sheehan (complete with hippies) they have finally reached the “taunting returning soldiers” point. Next we’ll hear that they are spitting on soldiers and calling them “babykillers” and then the template will be complete.

Except these people don’t even have the decency to taunt healthy soldiers. They’re going after the wounded.

Sick. So very sick stuff.  As I said earlier, the Bush Administration needs to get on the ball and combat the misinformation and do so quickly.

Karl Rove, I'm here for you baby.  Let's get this thing moving and let's take it to the enemy.

Sooner and not later.

Comments

[Presbypoet]

We will win. We have three years. You don't win guerrilla wars quickly. You need to be patient. I lived through the sixties. If those bombers had been as willing to kill, just as many people would have died. The reason they didn't was that it is a stupid tactic. In Iraq, all the terrorists are doing is generating anger against them. When we pull back to secure bases to prepare for Iran, the local forces will finish the job. We need more time for training, the bombings do slow down some recovery, it isn't easy, but compared to where I expected us to be after two years, we are on track. I expected a five year program. We are after all building up a democracy from scratch. When did our occupation forces leave Japan and Germany?

I give Saddam credit for preparing a defense in depth, and not surrendering. It has made it harder. It was something we didn't expect, although it is a scorched earth plan like the Russians used to defeat Napoleon. It is hard to imagine you opponent is going to destroy his own country. Since we had almost no human agents in Iraq, it isn't surprising we had some surprises.

My main reason for optimism is that Bush has guts. He is not going to give up. That is all we need to know. The MSM can and is doing damage. They are making it harder, and killing Americans by encouraging the enemy. At some point we will experience a terrorist horror in this country much worse than most can imagine. This war isn't over. It will not be over until those who think they can impose Islam are completely defeated. I am a realistic optimist. History helps me understand where we are going. Be not afraid. We will win.

[Marko]

Figures lie and liars figure.

The American people were promised that our troops would be welcomed with flowers and candy. That this war would pay for itself. That it would be over in "days, weeks, certainly not months" by this administration. We were told we HAD to invade (mushroom cloud).

We were told a lot of things that were not true. The American people are sick of the way this war was waged and the people running it.

THAT'S what's affecting the polls not the media who, for the most part, has been carrying water for this administration since day one.