The Media war is ours to lose

http://www.strategypage.com/on_point/200791823648.aspx

'By the first week of October 2001, American's chit-chat class had lost patience with America's new war in Afghanistan. Television's hype-drenched talk shows claimed the Pentagon had botched it. The gloomiest prognosticators (most of them from the political left) foresaw a Himalayan defeat, with U.S. soldiers outsmarted by wily, inspired "resistance fighters." As fighting raged and Afghan winter blizzards arrived, millions would starve.'

Not just the chit-chat class either- I talked to numerous people who mentioned the two 19th century British defeats in Afghanistan and knew therefore that the intervention was doomed from the start. But thats the trouble with a little knowledge. If we used the talking points of public debate as a tool for determining foreign policy, we would be persistantly make catastrophic judgements. A case in point- the 'Blackhawk Down' intervention in Somalia. By military standards, the incident involving US special forces and the private armies of a couple of warlords was not even worthy of being called a battle. It was a skirmish, involving a few dozen combatants on the US side. Neither side can really claim to have won, although vastly greater numbers of Somalis died. But because the US removed its forces directly afterwards, it became a cause celebre amongst those who like to see America fail. It became mythologised as a US defeat and has appeared in Wahhabist/Deobandi propaganda all over the world as such ever since.

Now that the world watches the same news/propaganda from Cape Town to Kathmandu, the need to fight the media war has become widely recognised. Making sure that your real victories become visible, and the defeats of your enemies even more so is a high priority. The various insurgent groups in Iraq have been shredded, pulverised and at times completely wiped out, but you'd never guess from the media coverage. The only statistics you ever hear are the US troops deaths and the number of car bombs. If you read only the New York Times or the BBC news website, the fact that many thousands of jihadis, criminals and death squad members have been killed by the US/UK forces could have easily escaped your notice.

And when we win, it will come as a huge surprise to many millions of lefties in Britain and America. Because the victories have gone largely unreported, winning must seem like a distant dream. Michael Totten, just returned from Ramadi and Baghdad, would be able to set them straight, if they were open-minded enough to allow it. But the point is despite our amazing skill in killing people, winning military contests and ending up victorious, we are terrible at the public drama of showing off our victories to the world. The Romans staged huge processions led by the leaders of the defeated people in chains which would pass by the assembled great and good and the proles too. No one was in any doubt what happened and who won and who lost. That kind of triumphalism is seen as bad taste and unpleasant in the modern world- but most people in the world understand what it is for. Just like the honours system, public recognition is essential to the health of a society which values success and honour.

Will the American officers who have presided over the triumphs in Iraq get a ticker-tape parade down 5th Avenue? And if not, why not?