The MSM's Doomsday Dogma

Peter Wehner, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the White House's Office of Strategic Initiatives, highlights what most of us keep forgetting because the MSM refuses to ever cover it:

The death of Abu Musab al Zarqawi also underscores the difficulty al Qaeda terrorists have been encountering in Iraq. Most of the media narrative about Iraq has been on the difficulties the United States faces. Those difficulties are real -- but they are far from the full story. What goes almost unnoticed is the enormous series of body blows our enemies have sustained. We have by now intercepted several key communications among terrorists in Iraq over the years -- and we keep learning about their despair at the progress of democracy and their unhappiness with the course of events.

The death of Mr. Zarqawi will add immeasurably to their troubles.

Media spin did of course take it much further:

Many in the Arab world doubted whether the Jordanian-born Zarqawi even existed. (Some reports indicate that Jordanian intelligence provided information on the location where he was killed.)

Living up to the Arab conviction in "conspiracy theories", many argued that Zarqawi was created by the Americans to justify their problems in Iraq. Whenever something went wrong, they would blame it on Zarqawi.

Some especially jaded champagne communists of the Left are calling the killing a stunt and make every effort to discredit the struggle for Iraq's liberation. Their doomsday dogma for Iraq remains unchanged despite the clear assessment of Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki. After all, who is he to know...

This might perhaps explain why a young Iraqi reporter and blogger @ Treasure of Baghdad, who refers to his homeland as "...a destroyed country torn between politics and violence", and who thus far has been an outspoken critic of the "US occupation", why he has changed his mind and for the first time welcomes our finest. My friend Rick @ The Ugly American alerted me to his post and I wholeheartedly share his sentiment that this is a powerful barometer. The Iraqi people may well view Zarqawi's death as far more important than we'll ever be able to fathom. After recounting some particularly gruesome memories etched into our reporter's young mind, his words of jubilation and newfound hope speak best for themselves:

Finally, he is dead. I couldn’t believe one day this pig will be killed. Finally, the brutal Zarqawi, whose bloody campaign of beheadings and suicide bombings made him the worst terrorist in the world, was killed. Finally the thousands of families and victims he killed will rest in peace.

I have to say that I haven’t been happy like this for a long time. When I met my other colleagues back in the office, I waved the victory sign, which I also haven’t done since a long time ago.

I know that attacks will increase. I know more people are going to die. I know mistakes are going to be continued. I know everything will not be fixed soon like in the fairy tales. But I am happy that this man is killed. I believe his death is the real first step: the thousand-miles road starts with one step.

“Are you happy?” an American colleague of mine asked me. “I am very happy,” I replied. “Are you as happy as you were when Saddam was captured?” he continued. “No,” I replied. “Saddam was a criminal but not as brutal as Zarqawi,” I said. In all cases Saddam also should be killed, not tried. I wish I could see him hanged along with his henchmen and the other terrorists in “al-Tahreer Square” where he hanged innocents. It would make many Iraqis happy. These criminals need to be executed to make others know what being a terrorist means. Trials are not enough.

Although everybody knows that I am against the U.S. occupation to Iraq, I believe what they did in helping the Iraqis kill Zarqawi was a good real step for a better Iraq after three years of destruction and struggle. It’s only now that I feel the US forces are really serious and want to get rid of the terrorists who came as a reaction to their occupation to the country in a way or another. It’s only now I felt that they really want to accomplish their mission and go back home soon. I really hope that what I am feeling is right.

When I saw Maliki in the conference, I wished I could shake his hands to thank him and tell him how I want his government to be strong. I have a feeling that this man is really serious in taking Iraq to the safe side. I really feel that he is doing his best to do a better job than the ones preceded him. Killing Zarqawi is a good omen that Maliki’s government is no longer silent.