CNN's Micheal Ware on the White House Iraq Report

I trust what Ware has to say on Iraq more than most journalists and certainly more than the government. Especially anything coming out of the White House.



"CNN then turned to a "reality check" from journalist Michael Ware in Baghdad on the White House's Iraq report, released on Thursday, which claims progress on 8 out of 18 benchmarks set by Congress.

"The authors of this report are far more generous than I would ever be," said Ware. "For example, they suggested there's been satisfactory progress in the area of sectarian violence It's quite a stunning claim ... Here in Baghdad, they're finding less bodies on the streets each morning tortured and executed. But we're still talking about five or six hundred each month. ... It almost dishonors the suffering of the Iraqi people to say that."

Ware then pointed out a couple of reasons why sectarian violence might be diminishing even without the efforts of American troops. "About 50,000 Iraqis a month have been fleeing this country or have been displaced," he stated. "So there's simply less targets for the sectarian violence. ... The ethnic cleansing has been successful. ... Finally, we're seeing the American military is now allowing some Sunni neighborhoods to have their own Sunni militias. ... If there's a Sunni militia in your neighborhood, the police death squad can't get to you."

"It's an extraordinarily difficult thing to gauge whether the surge is, in fact, working or not," Ware concluded, pointing out that the surge only affects a small part of Iraq and also that Iraqi insurgents have greatly stepped up their own attacks against American forces since the surge began."

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/CNN_Iraq_report_inaccurate_reflection_of_0713.html

Now, he's trying to walk a fine line, after being told what exactly?

Anyway, he's still working to get the truth out, sometimes at least. MKJ

edited for clarity

but always had the feeling that what we get on International in the UK may differ from what's broadcast to you standard CNN. I'd doubt that Michael Ware has been made to toe the line.

know nothing, clueless anchors, in the Atlanta CNN studio, as punishment (shortly after his most excellent and articulate rant) and as a reminder of what happens to journalists who just want to tell the truth....ask Christiane Amanpour.

MKJ

his only problem with the war is that we haven't shocked and awed our way to victory in Iraq and then onward to Iran.