Iraqi deaths not newsworthy?

[Stravo]

I noticed a distinct drop off in intensity of reporting in the Iraqi death toll as it steadily climbs with carbombs, ambushes, kidnappings and beheadings. Until I started looking at the stories that were reported on in passing and noticed something odd.

More Iraqis were dying now. US troops were usually either not on the scene or were wounded. But the spate of US trooper deaths seems to have fallen, replaced by a growing number of Iraqi deaths as the rebels are now focussing their attacks on easier targets.

Also I read somewhere last week that the new commander of American troops was starting to get troops out of the cities and into basecamps outside the cities because in his words, the presence of American troop patrols were 'encouraging' the rebels to attack and lay ambushes for them. It was time for the Iraqis to start policing themselves.

The first thought that came to my mind was "Vietnamization." to those that don't know the word, when Nixon was desperately looking for a way out of Vietnam he started to think of ways to staunch the American casualties and try to build an infrastructure to try and extricate the country out of Vietnam. He came up with a Vietnamization of the South's defenses by having South Vietnamese troops begin taking over for American troops.

Vietnamization didn't work partly because the South's troops were inexperienced and unmotivated. Riddled with internal divisions and corruption they were no match for the well motivated and armed North Vietnamese and VC.

So, we seem to be looking at a Vietnamization policy of Iraq. You have to wonder something, we went in, tore down their government, killed their army and eviscerated their beaurcracy, creating the hornet's nests of Falusia and the rest of the Sunni triangle, we take some casualties doing this then hand over 'sovereignty' then turn to them and say "Hey, Mustafa, it's your turn to bleed. Sorry about the mess we left for you but you're a free country now."

I can't help feeling that this trend to get troops out of harm's way (aren't patrols SUPPOSED to draw enemies out?) and getting the Iraqi police and security on the front lines is an attempt to dress up Iraq as improving because less Americans are dying and as the media is proving to me with their reporting American deaths are far more newsworthy than Iraqi deaths.

Sorry about the long rant but I've been mulling this over the last few days.

[CJvR]

Well if Iraq is to be anything other than a US occupation zone it will need it's own ability to maintain law and order.

Naturaly replacing US troops with Iraqis is a big advantage, the locals might silently approve of foreigners brutaly murdering other foreigners but will be far less tolerant of the local boys getting blasted by A-Q. The less US visibility in Iraq the more hostility towards the efforts efforts of Bathists, A-Q and Shiite fanatics to set off a civil war.

[Raptor 597]

Yes, it would be quite unacceptable for the media to portray the number of Iraqi deaths in the auidence's eyes. They simply don't want to hear a massive list of deaths. Last week out of 124 casualties in a mall bombing in Iraq 68 innocents were killed. It seems that the average Joe Sixpack doesn't want to here about the shit we caused inadvertly and only cares about the one American a day yet still doesn't comprehend the numbers. I got a feeling something will break in Iraq as the scared innocents begin asking the national government for protection they can't provide.

[Joe]

I certainly haven't noticed any drop in the amount of reporting done on the Iraqi death toll, if anything it's gone up over the past month.

[Darth Wong]

There is one key difference: no running tally. With American deaths, they keep the Big Ol' Death Tally running, and constantly remind people how high the total has become. With Iraqi deaths, there is no tally.

[Thinkmarble]

Is there sympathy with all these abductees? There is. We hate seeing them looking frightened on television. We hate thinking of the fact that they have families and friends who worry about them in distant countries and wonder how in the world they managed to end up in the hell that is now Iraq? but for every foreigner abducted, there are probably 10 Iraqis being abducted and while we have to be here because it is home, truck drivers, security personnel for foreign companies and contractors do not. Sympathy has its limits in the Iraqi summer heat. Dozens of Iraqis are dying on a daily basis in places like Falloojeh and Najaf and everyone is mysteriously silent- one Brit, American or Pakistani dies and the world is in an uproar- it is getting tiresome.