The Common Ills: Iraq: Waves of Operation Happy Talk crash into the shore of reality

Friday, February 13, 2015

Iraq: Waves of Operation Happy Talk crash into the shore of reality

Phil Black: And what we're now hearing from Iraqi officials is that the entire town is now under the control of ISIS. It is yet another piece of land that they have grabbed.

No, that's not Phil Black reporting for CNN from last summer.

That's Phil Black reporting on CNN this morning.

You mean all those useless liars with their useless lies for the last weeks about the Islamic State being on the run, no longer able to seize territory, ect were wrong?

That's shocking . . .

If you're stupid enough to believe these dumb asses.

And I try to be nice but you really do have to be stupid after nearly 12 years of this ongoing war to believe US government officials or in-the-tank 'analysts' who tell you, "Turned corner!"

We called that Operation Happy Talk back in 2004. And it was so apt and accurate that it became very popular with a number of people adopting the phrase -- including someone now taking part in it from the White House.

But it is what it was: Operation Happy Talk.

And karma long ago made clear that when you insist "turned corner" on Iraq, events come along to slap you upside your smug and ignorant face.

Let's give credit to one journalist, Andrea Mitchell of NBC News was one of the very few to publicly doubt the spin -- spin which really began in earnest after Barack Obama delivered the State of the Union Address. That seriously launched the latest wave of Operation Happy Talk.

So what's going on today?

Heather Saul (Independent) explains, "ISIS militants seized control of parts of the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi, close to an air base where 320 US Marines are training Iraqi soldiers." How close? The headline says IS is "13 minutes away" from the base.

That may have been accurate when Saul filed her report but CBS News reports:

Eight suicide bombers managed Friday to get onto a sprawling Iraqi military base where hundreds of U.S. Marines are training their Iraqi counterparts, but were killed by an ISF counter attack almost immediately.
Sean Ryan, chief of foreign affairs for the U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq, confirmed to CBS News that the attackers made it onto the secluded Ain al-Asad airbase west of Baghdad, but said the attackers made it "nowhere near" the American forces on the base before they were killed.

Phil Black adds that an unnamed US defense "official reiterated what has been said many times publicly by Pentagon officials: That U.S. forces retain the right to defend themselves if necessary, but at this point there have been no injuries to U.S. forces at the airbase and there is no change in status."

The following community sites -- plus Antiwar.com, Jody Watley and IPS -- updated: