http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/gen-petraeus-vs-the-british-press/Multi-National Force-Iraq commanding General David Petraeus has little use for recent claims in the British press that the Surge is on the verge of collapse in parts of Iraq. In an e-mail to Pajamas Media, Petraeus wrote that the story, as reported in the Guardian were “based on dated info.”
In addition, he said that reports that the Iraqi government is refusing to employ Sunnis are incorrect
In addition to falsely reporting the death of the Surge, several factual details of the Guardian report were also apparently incorrect.The Guardian claimed 80,000 SoI participants, 16,000 less than actual figure of 96,000 provided by Multi-National Corps-Iraq. The newspaper also claimed that Sunnis have only been provided “only a handful” of jobs by the government of Iraq: 12,000 Sunni militiamen have already been transitioned to security or non-security positions within the Iraqi government.
The Guardian has been challenged over previous stories relating to the Sons of Iraq, including a November 2007 story in which the reporter compared a Sunni militia commander unfavorably to a mafia don. Repeatedly, the Guardian has portrayed Sunni militiamen in Iraq as one-dimensional caricatures, thuggish mobsters in Baghdad’s city streets, or rank mercenary rubes who would sacrifice security in their communities for dollars.
Neither characterization is accurate. Sunni tribesmen did not join the Sahwa councils for profit: they did so to protect their communities against the barbarism and raw brutality of al Qaeda against Sunni civilians. The rejection of al Qaeda’s torture and terrorism would continue whether or not Americans were paying Sunni militias to man checkpoints.
This mundane reality may not provide the drama and sensationalist copy: which is perhaps the reason that the Guardian isn’t particularly interested in reporting it accurately.
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