Jewish World Review July 6, 2005 / 29 Sivan, 5765

Winning the war at home first

By Jack Kelly

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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Columnist Bob Novak began his report on President Bush's speech on Iraq this way:

"With public support for the war in Iraq declining at a rapid rate and his approval falling even faster, President Bush went to the nation last Tuesday night to try to bolster the resolve and spirits of the people."

There is an itty bitty problem with that lede. According to the Gallup Poll released the day before the speech, support for the war and approval of President Bush both have risen since the last Gallup Poll June 5th.

According to Gallup, the percentage of Americans who think the war in Iraq has contributed to the long term security of the U.S. rose to 52 percent from 47 percent, and the percentage of Americans who approve of the way Bush is conducting the war rose to 43 percent from 41 percent. His overall job approval rating held steady at 48 percent.

(The rise in support for the war began about the same time Democrats and journalists made a brouhaha about the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. If this is more than mere coincidence, Democrats ought to rethink their strategy of trying to hurt Bush by sliming our soldiers.)

Novak is by no means the only journalist who makes assertions which are not true. In a snarky story Thursday, David Sanger of the New York Times implied that the failure of Bush's audience at Fort Bragg to interrupt his speech with applause indicated disapproval of his message. It wasn't until the 6th paragraph that Sanger acknowledged the troops had been ordered not to make such displays. Surveys of soldiers and Marines taken after the speech indicated overwhelming support for the President's message.

On the Today show Tuesday, Katie Couric said Iraq was "unraveling." Journalists frequently assert, without offering evidence, that the situation in Iraq is deteriorating. This is because there is no evidence to support the assertion.

The U.S. handed over sovereignty to Iraq on June 28th, 2004. In the six months between then and the end of the year, 472 American service members were killed. In the first six months of this year, 404 have been killed.

Suicide car bomb attacks are up, but the total number of attacks on Coalition forces is down slightly from last year, and attacks on U.S. troops have declined by nearly half.

One can say — as Gen. John Abizaid has — that not much has changed on the military front. But it is preposterous to assert that things have gotten worse.

On the political front, substantial progress has been made. More than 8 million voted in free elections Jan. 30th. Power was peacefully transferred from appointed prime minister Iyad Allawi to elected prime minister Ibrahim al Jaafari. Sunnis who boycotted the election are taking part in the drafting of a constitution.

Some insurgent groups are negotiating with the government, others are battling al Qaida. In a poll in March, 62 percent of Iraqis said their country was headed in the right direction; only 23 percent said wrong direction. This was the biggest spread in 7 polls taken since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

America is losing in Iraq only on television screens and in "news" columns. Terrorist operations seem to be conducted more with the cameras than with any military objective in mind.

There is plenty of good news from Iraq, but you have to go to Arthur Chrenkoff's web log, or the various milblogs, to read it.

The drumbeat of negativism from the news media likely explains the substantial gap between those Americans who (before Bush's speech) thought we should keep troops in Iraq until civil order is restored (58 percent), and those who think we're making good progress (37 percent).

A flash poll taken by Gallup immediately after Bush's speech indicates he should speak out on Iraq more often. Of the 323 speech watchers polled, 74 percent had a positive or very positive reaction to it. The proportion of respondents who think the U.S. is winning rose to 54 percent from 44 percent before the speech, and the proportion of those who thought the U.S. should keep troops in Iraq rose to 70 percent from 58 percent.

The president must make the case, repeatedly and forcefully, for what we are doing in Iraq, and why, because the only battlefield where the war can be lost is the battle for public opinion.