Iran; The Beat Goes On

One of the news services I like is Reuters. Today I checked their web page and found an interesting story titled "Military finding more Iranian arms in Iraq." That stuck me as a little peculiar because recently the news has been a bit more encouraging on that count as well as on U.S. Soldier and civilian casualties. In fact I thought I had read recently that fewer Iranian made munitions had been found. I couldn't remember where and after thinking on it I even wondered if I had.
Just keeping track of what you think you know about this war is difficult. It would be hard enough if you could believe most of what you read or hear but you can't and it makes it nearly impossible. It requires vigilance and a personal conviction that few people can find time for.
The article cited Major-General Rick Lynch whose command includes southern Baghdad to Kerbala and Najaf. He made his case and since he's a high level U.S military man who would seem to be well informed-what's not to believe-right? Maybe, but it really is just a piece of a puzzle. There was a lot to the story that perplexed me. I stared at the page and wondered as my eyes wandered. When I refocused I was on "related stories" where I saw another story titled "U.S sees decline in Iran-linked bombs found in Iraq." I thought what the #@^%!
So I thanked the age of technology for this little mishap and quickly clicked on it and sure enough, there was a story that was polar opposite, all on the same Reuters page.
This story was about 10 days old (dated November 1, 2007) and cited Army Lt. General Ray Odiemo. I knew he was the top commander in Iraq for day to day operations. Again a well placed high ranking official who should be believable.
Like the other article there were plenty of qualifiers and once again it didn't leave me feeling any closer to the truth .
My point is that watching these day to day reports has no real value and in fact is just plain misleading.
I had a sense that the prior page wouldn't last so I went back and shot a copy and sure enough when I was done the "related stories" article was gone. I guess some Reuters web master staffer realized it looked a little silly and scrubbed it. But I got my copy and I can look at it any time I want to remind myself just how far we are from the truth.