what is going on in iraq

So if the media is "misreporting" what is going on in Iraq does that mean the military is "misreporting" to the media? Sounds confusing but take a look at this:

The U.S. military is conducting a propaganda campaign to magnify the role of the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, according to internal military documents and officers familiar with the program. The effort has raised his profile in a way that some military intelligence officials believe may have overstated his importance and helped the Bush administration tie the war to the organization responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The documents state that the U.S. campaign aims to turn Iraqis against Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian, by playing on their perceived dislike of foreigners. U.S. authorities claim some success with that effort, noting that some tribal Iraqi insurgents have attacked Zarqawi loyalists.

For the past two years, U.S. military leaders have been using Iraqi media and other outlets in Baghdad to publicize Zarqawi's role in the insurgency. The documents explicitly list the "U.S. Home Audience" as one of the targets of a broader propaganda campaign.

Now here is where it gets interesting. The article tells us how they decided to "target" their "U.S. Home Audience":

The military's propaganda program largely has been aimed at Iraqis, but seems to have spilled over into the U.S. media. One briefing slide about U.S. "strategic communications" in Iraq, prepared for Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top U.S. commander in Iraq, describes the "home audience" as one of six major targets of the American side of the war.

Will we ever be able to handle control of Iraq over to its
troops? More importantly will be if we can pass the torch to them and be
somewhat assured that they will not turn to the same tyrannical leadership
styles Saddam followed.

NEW YORK In a remarkable report published widely Thursday, Tom Lasseter,
longtime Knight Ridder correspondent in its Baghdad bureau, reveals what he
learned as possibly the first American journalist to embed with an all-Iraqi
military operation in the war -- and it isn't pretty.

Lasseter writes that "a week spent eating, sleeping and going on patrol
with a crack unit of the Iraqi army" (the 4,500-member 1st Brigade of the
6th Iraqi Division) suggests that the Bush exit strategy of turning over
military control to the Iraqis "is in serious trouble. Instead of rising
above the ethnic tension that's tearing their nation apart, the mostly
Shiite troops are preparing for, if not already fighting, a civil war
against the minority Sunni population."

Indeed, the soldiers he traveled with are "seeking revenge against the
Sunnis who oppressed them during Saddam Hussein's rule."

American commanders often refer to the 1st Brigade as a template for the
future of Iraq's military, and sometimes they operate on their own, other
times with American firepower taking the lead. But Lasseter notes that
increasingly "they look and operate less like an Iraqi national army unit
and more like a Shiite militia."

View complete article at

Editor and Publisher.

Why is it our administration just seems to be out of touch
with one another? In the last month we have heard different stories about troop
reduction in Iraq. On July 11, we heard that we could have 66,000 less troops in
Iraq by next summer. Then on July 28, General Casey said there could be a
substantial reduction by next spring. This seemed like great news.

Now we hear the President saying there is no clear
timeframe for troop reduction, and yesterday he dismissed the other allegations
of troop reduction as just “rumors”. So George, why is it that you tell us you
make your decisions based upon the commanders on the ground, but when one says
we could have a troop reduction you call it a rumor?

• This lack of agreement amongst our top military leaders
  makes me ask these questions and others.
• Has Iraq declined this much in two weeks that we can not
  think about bringing our troops home?
• Will Gen. Casey get sacked like other generals who said
  they needed more troops when we invaded?
• If your not making judgments based upon intelligence given
  to you by our commanders on the ground, then what are you basing it on?
• Do you really know what is going on in Iraq Mr. President?

These are the questions that need to be asked of our
Commander in Chief. He seems to be on a different page than the top military
leaders. Perhaps we got these reports to see if it would help the President’s
approval rating. When he noticed it didn’t he said “the hell with it” and went
back to his old rhetoric of keeping the troops in place.