Bush tries to get a grip on Iraq

From, who else but "the sky is falling" BBC

More drivel from Paul Reynolds who is suppose to "report news" instead we get his usual anti-American rants.

It has been another bad week for the coalition in Iraq, forcing President Bush to try to get a grip on the situation with a major speech on Monday.

Look at that sentence will you. Reynolds implies that Iraq is the last thing on Bush's mind and he has to be "forced" to do something. Then he plants the idea that Bush can only "try" and will ultimately fail. By saying "get a grip" Reynolds is saying Bush does not have a grip on Iraq. All of that in one sentence and all of it hand wringing and the sky is falling panic by Reynolds.

Reynolds goes on to list, as he calls them, "disasters this week". More the sky is falling panic.

The assassination of the head of the Iraqi Governing Council Ezzedine Salim.

While the death of Mr. Salim is a disaster for him and his family and a blow to the Iraqi people, it will not stop the rebuilding of a democratic Iraq. If anything it will serve to strengthen the resolve of the Iraqi people.

The attack on a village near the Syrian border which US forces said was against armed infiltrators but which local people said was an assault on a wedding party.

It is still not clear exactly what happened in this incident and therefore premature to call it a disaster. Here again, if true, it is a disaster for those involved but will not stop the rebuilding of Iraq. Large groups of men firing AK47s in the air in a war zone is a bad idea.

The publication of yet more photos of prisoner abuse. The latest batch, in the Washington Post, showed guards leering by the dead body of a prisoner, and detainees being beaten up and paraded apparently covered in excrement. The sentencing of one guard to a year in prison went some way towards undoing some of the damage but not that far.

Again, bad news but hardly a disaster. Many Iraqis are puzzled by all the fuss the press is making over these photos. Many do not believe that the abuse was widespread and certainly nowhere close to the abuse committed by Saddam.

I disagree with Mr Reynolds on that last sentence. Only one soldier has been sentenced so far; more will follow. If the press would do it's job properly and report the conviction and sentencing with as much zeal as they reported the abuse, it will undo a lot of damage.

The falling out between the Coalition Authority and Ahmed Chalabi, a member of the Governing Council and once one of the Pentagon's favorites in Iraq. Mr Chalabi's house was raided by coalition forces.

Where's the disaster here? The US believes Chalabi is interfering in the oil-for-food scandal investigation and are unhappy with the intelligence he provided before the war. And As Tanya Nolan reports, the raid is also being interpreted as an endorsement of the United Nation's special envoy in Iraq and a message to Mr Chalabi to give up his political ambitions in the country. From ABC.net

Mr Reynolds goes on

Continued fighting against the cleric Moqtada Sadr in the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf.

A fight in which the coalition is winning and Sadr is losing. Leave it to the BBC to turn a win into a disaster.

There is much more "the sky is falling" panic from Reynolds but I'll leave it to you if you want to read his drivel. To save you the pain of reading the rest, here is his summation:

It is a time of great nervousness, amounting to panic almost in some quarters, about the way Iraq has gone out of control. But nobody thinks the end is in sight.

Only at the BBC, Mr Reynolds, only at the BBC.