Weather, Iraq, and other Stuff

Ah, it's the second day of Spring, and the snow is falling. How glorious!

The weather forecasters can't seem to decide if we're going to get a dusting, an inch, 3-5 inches, or 4-6 inches. Personally, I'll be surprised if we get more than a couple of inches.

Have you noticed that weather forecasts have gotten more alarmist in the information age? The Weather Channel can't wait to send its weather disaster vultures to wherever the weather is turning a little bad. These folks show up for everything from a category 5 hurricane to the threat of six inches of snow. And because they show up with their Live Reports, it is a major news story complete with warnings and visual displays of what's going on.

Then I tuned in last night, and they were doing live reporting from a ski resort (where it's supposed to snow) on the folks who are taking their spring breaks there instead of at the beaches and resorts south of the snowbelt.

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I see where part of the President's strategy for explaining the war is to say that the news media aren't covering the whole story. According to Pres. Bush and other Administration spokesman, the media only cover the bombings, shooting, kidnappings, and other assorted violence in Iraq. They don't cover the good stories. I've heard this argument made before. Both the Johnson and Nixon Administrations complained that the media reports from Southeast Asia were biased towards battles, casualties, atrocities, and human suffering. And I'm disappointed that the Bush Administration is now blaming the messenger in that time-honored tradition.

Let's think a minute about why the media aren't out in force throughout Iraq looking for good stories. For one, there's the very real danger of being kidnapped and beheaded. I doubt that any story is worth losing one's head over. So the media can only get out under heavy guard, preferably with the US Army or the Marines. In this situation, they would see, what? Hmm, battles, bombings, IEDs, violence.

Second, what is the biggest need of the Iraqis? I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say security. I'm gonna guess that Iraqis would like to feel safe in their homes, safe on their streets, safe at the markets and shops and stores, and safe at their places of employment or safe to look for employment. Yet, by and large, they do not appear to be safe in any of these areas.

Probably the next thing the Iraqis would like would be clean water in their pipes (or even water that they can boil and use). Then they'd probably like electricity more than two hours a day. As we enter the fourth year since we invaded to liberate the Iraqi people, they have none of these things in their daily lives. I can forgive those who do not feel that life is better now than it was before liberation.

In yesterday's speech, President Bush touted a recent success in one town in the northwest of the country that, he said, had finally been liberated from terrorists (or insurgents or freedom fighters, whatever you want to call them). The Washington Post did some interviewing of the residents there, and the facts on the ground would seem to contradict everything the President said. It would seem that the insurgents are finally returning to Tal Afar...again.

Can you say, "Credibility Gap?"