Iraq meltdown: why do we have to rely on the foreign press to get U.S. news?

from the guardian...

An elite team of officers advising US commander General David Petraeus in Baghdad has concluded the US has six months to win the war in Iraq - or face a Vietnam-style collapse in political and public support that could force the military into a hasty retreat.

[...]

"We don't have the numbers for the counter-insurgency job even with the surge. The word 'surge' is a misnomer. Strategically, tactically, it's not a surge," an American officer said.

[...]

According to a British source, plans are in hand for the possible southwards deployment of 6,000 US troops to compensate for Britain's phased withdrawal and any concomitant upsurge in unrest.

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Steven Simon, the national security council's senior director for transnational threats during the Clinton administration, said a final meltdown in political and public backing was likely if the new strategy was not quickly seen to be working. "The implosion of domestic support for the war will compel the disengagement of US forces. It is now just a matter of time," Mr Simon said in a paper written for the Council on Foreign Relations.

"Better to withdraw as a coherent and at least somewhat volitional act than withdraw later in hectic response to public opposition... or to a series of unexpectedly sharp reverses on the ground," he said.

i don't know about you, but the image that comes to mind is the famous photo of one the last u.s. choppers leaving from the roof of an apartment building during the hasty evacuation of saigon...

Vietnam civilians try to board an Air America helicopter on an apartment rooftop in Saigon, April 29, 1975. This is perhaps the most famous image from the Fall of Saigon. It was taken by Hubert van Es, a Dutch photographer working for United Press International. The building in the photo is frequently referred to as the US Embassy, but in fact is an apartment building several blocks away that was one of several pick-up points for the American evacuation.

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