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Dec. 3, 2008

Steven Emerson: Yes, the terrorists are winning

Don Terry: Lifetime, no see

Dec. 2, 2008

Melanie Phillips: The Mumbai atrocity is a wake-up call for a frighteningly unprepared world

Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report: Strategic Motivations for the Mumbai Attack

Dec. 1, 2008

Max Freidlander, as told to Jacklyn C. Wadler: India Inkings

Mark Steyn: Whodunit!?

Nov. 28, 2008

Rabbi Ahron Rapps: An evil seed that didn't have to be

Melanie Phillips: Carpe diem --- or can we all relax now?

Nov. 26, 2008

Michael Feldberg: Meet the Orthodox Jew who laid groundwork for scientific development of ordnance that undergirds America's current world leadership

Andrea Simantov: Shades of life

Nov. 25, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Getting Emotional For Influence

The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman : Thanksiving feast!

Nov. 24, 2008

Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg: 'I just Became a grandchild!'

Barry Rubin: Don't flatter your enemies, protect your friends

Nov. 21, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Money matters?

Caroline B. Glick: Civilization walks the plank

Nov. 20, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Bronfman's blindness

The Kosher Gourmet By Linda Gassenheimer: Portobellos add a hearty flavor to pasta with pesto

Nov, 19, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Spread the wealth? Jewish tradition and income equality

Elliot B. Gertel: 'Mad Men': Tackling prejudices or reinforcing them?

Nov, 18, 2008

Dr. Debby Schwarz Hirschhorn: The End of the Age of Reason

Jonathan Tobin: Does Barack + Bibi = Disaster?

Nov, 17, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The End of the Age of Reason

Diana West: Gulling Americans into making terror legit?

Nov, 14, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: The Power of Spiritual Inertia

Caroline B. Glick: The perils ahead

Nov, 13, 2008

Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: How Bush and Obama together could change the Middle East dynamic

The Kosher Gourmet by JeanMarie Brownson: Sweet and savory, crispy and meltingly tender bestilla

Nov, 12, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Tyrannical Co-Workers

Michael Doyle: High Court to consider today donated monuments that may have religious messages in public parks

Nov, 11, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Will Obama stop government officials considering institutionalizing financial jihad?

Jonathan Tobin: They Will Decide Their Own Fate

Nov, 10, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: $8 billion, modern-day Tower of Babel being built?

Barry Rubin: A letter to the president-elect from a Middle East realist

Nov, 7, 2008

Rabbi Francis Nataf: Of Children and Immortality

Caroline B. Glick: Livni's Obama strategy

Nov, 6, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: How I tricked a classroom of apathetic students into grasping the fallacy of moral relativism

The Kosher Gourmet By Gina Kim: Tips for making the perfect soup --- includes recipes

Nov, 5, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Destitute Debtors

Bruce Weinstein: 'Religulos': Bad title,even worse movie

Nov, 4, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Treasury Dept. submits to Shariah law

Frida Ghitis: A surprise for Obama in the Middle East

Nov, 3, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Who says Jews are Smart?

Jonathan Tobin: Was He Wrong About Everything?

March 22, 2007

J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review April 2, 2007 / 14 Nissan, 5767

No wonder Sen. McCain is frustrated

By Jack Kelly

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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Americans aren't being told the full story of how much progress has been made in Iraq since the troop surge began, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) said at a news conference in Baghdad Sunday. An incident alleged to have occurred at that news conference suggests why. While Sens. McCain and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) were speaking, they were being mocked by CNN reporter Michael Ware.


"Here you have two United States senators in Baghdad giving first-hand reports while Ware is laughing and mocking their comments," an official who was at the new conference told Matt Drudge. "I've never witnessed such disrespect. This guy is an activist, not a reporter."


Mr. Drudge did not identify his source, and Mr. Ware issued a denial on a CNN broadcast Monday. "I didn't say a word. I didn't even ask a question," Mr. Ware told CNN anchor Soledad O'Brien, which wasn't exactly responsive to the official's criticism that Mr. Ware was "laughing and mocking their comments" while the senators were speaking.


In an earlier broadcast, Mr. Ware told CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer that Sen. McCain and his companions were on a propaganda mission:


"Essentially they're here to view the impact of the surge on the Baghdad security plan and essentially to sell its merits to say that yes, it is having an impact and to take that message home to an American people desperate to hear signs of progress," he said. That sounds a lot more like opining than reporting to me.


On what basis does Mr. Ware accuse Sen. McCain, war hero and frequent Bush critic, of being an administration shill?


Sen. McCain cited as evidence of progress that his delegation was able to drive to the Green Zone in the center of the city from Baghdad International Airport, rather than helicopter in, as on previous visits, and because his delegation (under heavy guard) was able to visit a market that has been a frequent target of suicide car bombings.


"Never have I been able to drive from the airport, never have I been able to go out into the city as I was today," Sen. McCain said.


"The fact that Sen. McCain and a delegation can drive from the airport and walk around parts of Baghdad in a heavy security envelope is not new," Mr. Ware told Ms. O'Brien. "Generals and American representatives have been doing such things throughout the war. Indeed it's the old reinvented as new and in now way a sign of real progress."


The fact that civilian deaths in Baghdad have declined by 40 percent since a pre-surge peak in January indicates something is going right. So does the fact that insurgent groups in contentious Anbar province are battling al Qaida. But you don't hear much about this from "mainstream" journalists.


Tom Ricks of the Washington Post is a much more respected journalist than is Mr. Ware, for good reason. But he also relentlessly emphasizes the negative.


Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey was in Iraq for a week in the middle of March. He wrote an after action report for his superiors at West Point, where he is a visiting professor.


Gen. McCaffrey does not sugar coat the situation: "Iraq is ripped by a low grade civil war which has worsened to catastrophic levels," he said in his opening paragraph. "The population is in despair. Life in many of the urban areas is now desperate."


But Gen. McCaffrey also said: "Since the arrival of Gen. David Petraeus... the situation on the ground has clearly and measurably improved... There is a real and growing ground swell of Sunni tribal opposition to the Al Qaida-Iraq terror formations... In my judgment we can still achieve our objective of a stable Iraq, at peace with its neighbors, not producing weapons of mass destruction, and fully committed to a law-based government."


Gen. McCaffrey also warned that "a disaster in Iraq will in all likelihood result in a widened regional struggle which will endanger America's strategic interests (oil) in the Mideast for a generation. We will also produce another generation of soldiers who lack confidence in their American politicians, the media, and their own senior military leadership."


Mr. Ricks belabors Gen. McCaffrey's dire assessment, but mentions only in passing (deep in the story) his view of the grounds for optimism since the surge began, and mentions not at all Gen. McCaffrey's view of the consequences of a premature pullout.


Most Americans have known for some while that the situation in Iraq is bad. That's not news. What is news is how much improvement there has been since the change in strategy. But few news organizations are reporting much about it. No wonder Sen. McCain is frustrated.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Jack Kelly, a former Marine and Green Beret, was a deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration. Comment by clicking here.

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