In case you were wondering what's really happening in Iraq

We would have lost WWII after the first casualty if we'd had the press we have today. Here, courtesy of Blackfive, is LTC Tim Ryan's intelligent analysis of our major Fifth Column problem:

What if domestic news outlets continually fed American readers headlines like: 'Bloody Week on U.S. Highways: Some 700 Killed,' or 'More Than 900 Americans Die Weekly from Obesity-Related Diseases'? Both of these headlines might be true statistically, but do they really represent accurate pictures of the situations? What if you combined all of the negatives to be found in the state of Texas and used them as an indicator of the quality of life for all Texans? Imagine the headlines: 'Anti-law Enforcement Elements Spread Robbery, Rape and Murder through Texas Cities.' For all intents and purposes, this statement is true for any day of any year in any state. True -- yes, accurate -- yes, but in context with the greater good taking place -- no! After a year or two of headlines like these, more than a few folks back in Texas and the rest of the U.S. probably would be ready to jump off of a building and end it all. So, imagine being an American in Iraq right now. I just read yet another distorted and grossly exaggerated story from a major news organization about the 'failures' in the war in Iraq. Print and video journalists are covering only a small fraction of the events in Iraq and more often than not, the events they cover are only the bad ones. Many of the journalists making public assessments about the progress of the war in Iraq are unqualified to do so, given their training and experience. The inaccurate picture they paint has distorted the world view of the daily realities in Iraq. The result is a further erosion of international public support for the United States' efforts there, and a strengthening of the insurgents' resolve and recruiting efforts while weakening our own. Through their incomplete, uninformed and unbalanced reporting, many members of the media covering the war in Iraq are aiding and abetting the enemy.

Read on to learn more about the actual situation in Iraq, which is neither wonderful, nor dire, but falls on the better side of the scale. For example:

The fact is the Coalition is making steady progress in Iraq, but not without ups and downs. War is a terrible thing and terrible things happen during wars, even when you are winning. In war, as in any contest of wills with capable opponents, things do not always go as planned; the guys with the white hats don't always come out on top in each engagement. That doesn't mean you are losing. Sure, there are some high profile and very spectacular enemy attacks taking place in Iraq these days, but the great majority of what is happening in Iraq is positive. So why is it that no matter what events unfold, good or bad, the media highlight mostly the negative aspects of the event? The journalistic adage, "If it bleeds, it leads," still applies in Iraq, but why only when it's American blood?

I've said before, though, that I do not see how we can overcome our Fifth Column, since it controls the American press. In other words, wars are often won through propaganda, and all our instruments for propaganda are in the Fifth Column's hands. The drop in American support for the war, even in Red counties, shows how effective this steady trickle of low level malice is. Funnily enough, the Left's techniques are utterly unchanged from those the Left employed 50 years ago. Helen MacInnes, a wonderful Cold War thriller writer, described exactly the same thing in many of her books -- that is, the Left's use of print medium to insinuate that America was wrong in how she handled affairs and that ordinary Americans were evil. I know she was writing novels, and I know she was writing for a Cold War audience, but it's weird to read a book such as "Neither Five Nor Three," or "Rest and Be Thankful," and see her fictional members of the Left mouthing the exact same words one reads in the Press today. Hat Tip: Power Line.