Reporters say Baghdad too dangerous despite surge

[cal04]

By David Morgan
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071128/ts_nm/iraq_usa_jour...

Nearly 90 percent of U.S. journalists in Iraq say much of Baghdad is still too dangerous to visit, despite a recent drop in violence attributed to the build-up of U.S. forces, a poll released on Wednesday said.

The survey by the Washington-based Pew Research Center showed that many U.S. journalists believe coverage has painted too rosy a picture of the conflict.

A separate Pew poll released on Tuesday showed that 48 percent of Americans believe the U.S. military effort in Iraq is going very or fairly well, up from 34 percent in June, amid signs of declining Iraqi civilian casualties and progress against Islamist militants such as al Qaeda in Iraq.

But most journalists said they believe violence and the threat of violence have increased during their tenures.

(snip)
"Above all, the journalists -- most of them veteran war correspondents -- describe conditions in Iraq as the most perilous they have ever encountered, and this above everything else is influencing the reporting," the authors said in a report that accompanied the data.

[davidinalameda]

1. why do these reporters hate America

[MetaTrope]

2. And so it's investigative journalism to the fore once again!

As our noble minions of the Fourth Estate valiantly scour Pentagon press releases to let us know just how good things are going in Baghdad.

[Cha]

3. Then what

was lieman and mccain jawin' about?

[Mojorabbit]

4. It just hit me that

I haven't seen Mr Ware on CNN in a long time....

[Union Thug]

5. Oh, I see. But don't you understand, the "surge" has been a miraculous

success.

Except for the disaster that America made of Iraq, I guess.

Violence is down they say. Relatively speaking. And for how long? What a joke.

[TwilightGardener]

6. There's a reason why State Dept. employees didn't want to go live

in the Green Zone, and why reporters are nervous, despite the decrease in violence: no one has faith that this "progress" is built on any kind of lasting foundation. Those who know the most about what we're really doing there are also the most anxious, and it's understandable that Western civilians feel more vulnerable to the potential danger, unlike armed and battle-trained military members.

[ixion]

7. I'm not there, but it's my belief that the 'decrease' in violence is statistical only

and for the Iraqis trying to live their lives, the violence is still very real.

This story is evidence of that, IMO.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

8. k&R

[Hubert Flottz]

9. The GOP Propaganda machine is working well though...

The party with all the oil sees to that!