Molly Ivins: Hope, Hope, Hoping Along in Iraq

Iraq and the media, the media and Iraq—over and over. Last week was supposed to be a good media week for Iraq—Abu Musab al Zarqawi was dead. Taken out, we said, by a combination of American and Iraqi troops with Jordanian intelligence.

The churlish might note this was the second time the American military had announced Zarqawi’s death—but, hey, we’ve announced the capture of Osama’s No. 2 guy at least seven or eighth times. Others claimed Zarqawi was never that important to begin with, indeed had been built up by our side. Still, that’s a goal for our side, as they say in World Cup play.

Then reality got a bit bumpy. Zarqawi wasn’t exactly dead when we found him. We put him on a stretcher and cleaned him up—the fog of war intervened.

I distinctly remember people predicting the first time we killed Zarqawi that it wouldn’t make much difference, so I presume they did it again. Thus, we get to revisit the old cackle over whether we are fighting international terrorists who have flocked to Iraq or a native uprising against our occupation of the country. Can’t even agree on what’s going on.

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http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060612_molly_ivins_iraq/