March 2, 2005

The Atlantis of the Sands

THE APTLY-NAMED CALLIMACHUS @ Done With Mirrors takes us on a sentimental journey with "Fallujah Calling:"

Remember Fallujah? Three months ago, U.S. Marines waded into the warren of its streets and fought their toughest battle since Vietnam. They captured the former capital of the Islamist terrorists in Iraq. They ended the reign of Abu Musab al Zarqawi there, where he had created a grotesque miniature picture of what all Iraq would become if the U.S. packed up and came home, as war opponents wanted us to do.

Our troops scoured the city, and chased or killed the thug army that had made it its citadel. The fighting devastated Fallujah, which once had been home to 300,000 people. We said we would help them build a new Fallujah, when they returned. This was to be a showplace of the new Iraq, in the heart of the Sunni region, in the Baathist bastion.

Well, how's it going? Are we keeping our promise? Are we doing it well or poorly? What do the people say?

You'll never find out by reading the Associated Press. Or the New York Times. For the print media, Fallujah seems to have fallen off the map as totally as Atlantis.

Callimachus points out that this is not "a good news/bad news" issue, but a "no-news" issue. No photos online from AP for February, no updates moving on the wires, the whole town -- so make-or-break for the US effort in Iraq -- was a "make," a victory, so what interest could the aftermath possibly have.

This is more than a no-bleed / no-lead item. This is an issue where a win for the United States is obviously not worthy of any follow-up whatsoever. Daily body counts are great, but daily reclamation and restoration victories are in the strange amoral universe of the MSM unworthy even of notice.

Still, there is some news trickling out and Callimachus is kind enough to distill it for you. Why large international news organizations would fail to do this, I leave to your own conclusions.

[Pointer via Final Historian @ History's End]

Posted by Vanderleun at March 2, 2005 10:03 PM
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"The Atlantis of the Sands"

Great title. Perfect summation of the disappearance of Fallujah from the media radar.

Posted by: Final Historian at March 3, 2005 12:21 AM