The New York Times - Unbelievably Defeatist

This headline from the New York Times surprised even me.

"Defying U.S. efforts, Guerrillas in Iraq Refocus and Strengthen"

With a lead like this one would expect an investigative article with some real revelations. However, upon inspection I found that co-authors Dexter Filkins and David S. Cloud have done little more than rehash recent news, add a decent bit of editorializing peppered with a handful of factoids with weak attribution and pass it off as NEWS.

The opening line to the article:

"They just keep getting stronger."

And,

"In Baghdad, it is commonly understood that the recent success of the insurgency lies in part in the weakness of the Iraqi government."

"One other recent development in the insurgency - and a possible explanation of its ability to bring in recruits from around the Arab world - is the reach and sophistication of its public relations. "

Compare to the only real piece of 'news' in the piece:

"We are capturing or killing a lot of insurgents," said a senior Army intelligence officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make his assessments public. "But they're being replaced quicker than we can interdict their operations. There is always another insurgent ready to step up and take charge."

Messrs. Filkins and Cloud contend that the recent attacks against Arab diplomats are designed to intimidate foreign governments and that this is 'shrewd' practice. One could easily see it also as desperation. The same could be said for the suicide attack in Musayyib where a suicide bomber blew up a fuel truck. (The authors blame lax security measures for this by the way.) Zarqawi himself complained a few months back that the insurgency NEEDED to start a civil war and despite the bloodshed there seems to be little indication that is happening.

In summary, probably not a bad op-ed viewpoint but when you pass this off as NEWS and attach an egregiously biased headline the New York Times serves no one except the terrorists. Zarqawi is probably roaring with laughter that the none less the the New York Times is fanning his 'legend'. Sadly there are folks, many that I know, who read the Times from cover to cover every day and fervently believe that it is the secular Bible.

Charles at LGF caught this travesty and a commenter, z9zz9, suggested more appropriate headlines for this story:

Bloody but Ineffective Insurgency Forced to Switch Tactics.

Terrorist Blooodshed Not Stopping Political Progress; Insurgents Switch Focus.

With Resources Limited, Insurgents Forced to Be More Discriminating in Target Choices.

NYT Readershoip Dwindling; Seeks New Subscribers Among American-Hating Nitwits.