The Vanishing War

Engram, over at Back Talk, is great at providing perspective on evolving issues like the economy and the Iraq war. He gathers relevant data from reliable sources and presents it in a straight forward way, so that even a simpleton like me can understand it.

Below is a graph I swiped from his most recent update on the Iraq war. (I hope this works. I've never tried to display graphics on my blog before.)

Notice the clear decrease in casualties since August of '07 when "the surge" began. Obviously the surge is working, and working well. This is great news, and you would think the media would be eager to report on the progress we're making on the most important issue of our time.

But take a look at this graph (swiped from NewsBusters), tracking network news coverage of the Iraq war since the surge began:

"The Vanishing War" indeed.

Up until six months ago, when things were going badly and the war was "lost", the networks found plenty to report on. But as soon as things turned around and there was progress to report, the networks suddenly lost interest.

Not only is violence in Iraq down dramatically, but the Iraqi economy is "surging" as well. Yet we hear little of this on the evening news. It's not hard to see why many Americans remain sour on the war in Iraq, even as we are succeeding.