Problems and progress in Iraq

Remember the embeds? During the Iraq war they took us along as the U.S. Army battled its way to Baghdad. It was a masterful communications tactic - and who wasn't incredibly proud of those young men and women? Back home, senior Bush administration officials predicted our soldiers would be greeted as heroes in streets of Baghdad. On May 1, the president flew in a Navy S-3B Viking plane, made a tailhook landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln and before a huge "Mission Accomplished" banner declared an end to the hostilities.

Fast forward a few months; how naive it all seems now.

Today, Iraq is full of problems and progress. Naturally the administration wants to focus on the progress - the 1,000 schools that have re-opened, the restoration of electricity and the new currency. However, American troops are being attacked 25-30 times a day and people are being blow apart by suicide bombers and surface-to-air missiles. That's a problem. And in the heat of this occupation, the administration has lost its crisp communications focus. It's forgotten that full disclosure and truth are a part of - not alien to - effective communications. Consider some events of recent weeks:

- The administration banned the filming of coffins containing slain American military personnel arriving at Dover Air Force Base.

- The administration refused to make senior officials available to "Nightline" and "Frontline" but let them appear on "Oprah" and "David Letterman."

- The administration declined to say how many shoulder-fired missiles have been fired at planes landing at Baghdad International Airport.

- At one briefing Brig. Gen. Mark Hertling refused to say how many people were hurt in a series of attacks, telling reporters, "that's too morbid."

- One misguided commander with the 2nd Battalion of the 503rd Infantry Regiment began an "Astroturf" letter writing campaign designed to send happy news back to the hometown newspapers of his soldiers.

As elections draw near it's common for administrations to clam up and slam the media because the public's contempt for journalists is widespread. But picking on reporters is a cheap shot and a relentless focus on happy news and denial of the patently obvious is a recipe for disaster.

This is not your average communications challenge. This is different. This is life and death. Iraq is simply too serious for America, its citizens and the world community to be dealt with by stage-managed events and a refusal to disclose or even acknowledge bad news.

Columnist Maureen Dowd notes that a senior Defense Department official once sat in a jeep with an Army colonel who told him his troops were facing serious problems. The colonel wanted to tell the official about them but he was brought up short. "I don't want to hear about your problems," said the official. "I want to hear about your progress."

That one-sided mindset didn't serve the official or the country well. The official was Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and the jeep sat in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.

There's an old communications strategy: tell the truth. And it's especially apt in this case because anything less the truth dishonors the men and women who have given their lives in service of this country.

More than 100 years ago another president experienced in war and civil unrest said, "I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crises. The great point is to bring them the real facts."

Abraham Lincoln understood that the people must be presented with a full accounting of the problems and the progress in order to render judgment on a situation. George W. Bush would do well to remember that as his administration relentlessly seeks to put on a happy face on a horrible reality - because Iraq is one situation where attempts to manage events and manipulate coverage are unacceptable and unconscionable.