Iraq: Media continues to overstate al Qa'ida influence

This Associated Press story, entitled "Captured papers show weakening insurgency," is grossly misleading.

Whether or not the papers are even real, the article conflates the (overblown) efforts of "al Qa'ida in Iraq" (AQI) with the overall insurgency. I'm going to type this very, very slowly so reporters can understand:

AQI is a tiny percentage of the overall Iraqi insurgency, and perpetrates even smaller percentage of the overall violence in the country.

"Arrests, weapons seizures and money shortages are taking a heavy toll on al-Qaida's insurgency in Iraq" is tremendously misleading because it's not al-Qa'ida's insurgency. It's a native-based Sunni insurgency that, for the moment, allows foreign fighters freedom of movement. If and when the Sunnis decide to expel the foreign fighters, um, they'll be able to do it. Although AQI has committed some of the more high-profile attacks, it is far from the driving force of the insurgency.

If this document is real, hey, I'm psyched. I'm happy to see AQI lose heart, get killed, or whatever keeps them from blowing shit up. But it's lunacy to pretend that AQI is the insurgency focal point. How does an article get written that implies the insurgency is weakening -- allegedly by admission of insurgents themselves -- without mentioning, y'know, that casualties are at record highs? April and May had the highest number of Coalition deaths since October, and sectarian killings are skyrocketing, but Dick "Last Throes" Cheney says that the document, if authenticated, shows that terrorists know they are losing the war. Ohhhhkaayyyyy.

Attention media: the causes of violence in Iraq are, in descending order: regular old crime (due to total lack of security), sectarian conflict, anti-Coalition native insurgency, and foreign fighters (AQI). If a doctor brags about fixing a broken toe on a guy who's in the middle of a heart attack, it's nice that the toe is fixed . . . but the doctor is an idiot.