Does it matter?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5335740.stm

'More than half of people in the UK think the "war on terror" is being lost, a survey for the BBC suggests.
It found 53% believed the UK government was losing the "war on terror" and 56% thought it was being lost by other western governments.
Four out of 10 people questioned said they felt less safe now than when the so-called war on terror began after the 9/11 attacks, while 11% felt safer.'

Do I believe we are winning? Does it matter if more than half the population (of this sample group) think we're losing? Will this perception matter in the final analysis? In the clear sense that the government departments, the British Security Service, the British Army and the Police will fight the fight against global terrorism no matter what any particular poll says, it doesn't matter. That is not to say this poll means nothing- the Spanish voted out the Conservatives immediately after the Madrid bombs and have been heartily dhimmified ever since. It matters quite a lot in a representative democracy how the electorate perceive the big issues like the fight against Wahhabism.

What heartens me is the process currently going on in America. The US population are gradually realising that the surge is having concrete, discernible, genuine effects- and hope is returning. The deep dismay of the US population was always disproportionate to the situation in Iraq; there was never a time when the US wasn't in overall control. But now that serious headway is visible, people who long ago gave up on Iraq are gradually coming back to a position more aligned with the facts. The same can happen here in Britain regarding the war on Wahhabism.

For that to happen, though, a number of things must change. The BBC, which is only interested in the Iraq situation desultorily, reports only large explosions and casualty statistics. Everything else just doesn't pique their curiosity. Most mainstream media outlets have been reporting the Iraq situation as a lost war for so long, they seem unable to take any other position. ITV news in particular has to the best of my knowledge never reported any good news from Iraq. The mainstream media are happy to leave the Iraq situation blurred, suffused with myth, and never challenge any of the prevailing misconceptions people have. Its true that Iraq is a complex, many-sided fight, but its not beyond the wit of the average man to comprehend. By now, most people have heard of Sunni and Shia, but thats probably it in terms of detail. How many people in Britain know that there are two bitter rivals for Shia loyalties, currently fighting it out in Basra? And that attacks on British troops are a way for these two groups to gain credibility and support with locals? And that neither group is a genuine proxy of Iran (yet)?

The politicians of Britain can't seem to be bothered to really get to grips with Iraqi politics either, and certainly don't pass any knowledge they may have on to their electors. So its up to us bloggers to get the knowledge out and keep telling people the devil thats in the details.