Training or: Another day in a war that is won

The foreign terrorists, insurgents, etc. actually lost the war back on January 30. All they had was intimidation, and when Iraqis came out to vote, they lost that.

As the ISF becomes better armed, trained and equipped and we achieve the goals of our mission, look for press coverage of the war to continue to decline. It would seem good news is no news. My impression is that current war correspondents are disappointed by not getting their own Vietnam to cover so they express resentment by simply not reporting our success. Contrast that with WWII journalists who actually - get this - rooted for an American victory during the war.

But don't take my word for it, even the lib New Republic magazine (subscription only) has noticed this phenomenon:

At what point does the press report a trend? The question comes to mind because, over the past month, the news from Iraq has been unusually good. Depending on which military official you ask, insurgent attacks have dropped by either a third or nearly half. The number of Americans killed in action has declined. Civilians have begun killing terrorists. Over the past week alone, U.S. forces have killed scores of insurgents in lopsided battles--in the latest, Iraqi forces spearheaded the offensive. Does this mean America has turned a corner? Can we see a light at the end of the tunnel? Does it mean anything at all?

At least to judge by the amount of press coverage devoted to the past weeks' progress in Iraq, the answer would seem to be no. . . . The overall tenor of press coverage suggests that, if anything, the reverse is true: Even as I write these words, ABC News's Peter Jennings briefly relays news that U.S. and Iraqi forces killed 80 insurgents today, before moving on to a much longer and gloomier feature on the ingenuity of the resistance.

Via Instapundit.