Moshtarak: Taking it slow

Image courtesy: Lance Cpl. James W. Clark

"We know what we have to do. But who can tell the good ones from the bad ones? It's tough."

That quote, obtained by the Los Angeles Times, is from Lance Cpl. Raymond Walker. The Marine sums up the delicacy of Operation Moshtarak, which began on Friday in Afghanistan's Helmand Province. Clear the area and take Marja, but make sure civilians are protected.

Like the incredible picture to the left shows, the military is overwhelming Marja with force. Yet when civilians are accidentally killed, which enemy forces are quick to exaggerate, it undermines the entire purpose of the mission. So, coalition forces are proceeding slowly and carefully during Operation Moshtarak. The Los Angeles Times has a solid account from the ground:

Inching their way forward Monday through dusty streets, muddy fields and walled compounds, coalition troops periodically encountered firefights. Many were what the Marines call "spray-and-pray" episodes, in which Taliban fighters fire their AK-47 assault rifles and quickly flee.

But insurgents also mounted more sustained and complex attacks. Afghan officials recounted one particularly audacious Taliban bid Sunday to overrun a position held by Marines and Afghans, in which a trio of would-be suicide bombers descended simultaneously on a newly established outpost. All were shot and killed before they could detonate their explosives, Helmand Gov. Gulab Mangal told journalists in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah.

There have been at least two publicized incidents that have tragically resulted in civilian casualties thus far. One of the incidents, which reportedly killed 12 Afghans, was all over front pages of American newspapers and websites on Sunday, which this site criticized. Now, more details are emerging:

Interior Minister Mohammed Hanif Atmar told reporters a preliminary inquiry suggested that as many as three of those killed might have been insurgents who forced the family to let them into the compound.

As my Sunday post said, the Taliban and al Qaeda routinely use civilians as human shields, which we now know may have happened in this case. Yet journalists continue to put these incidents on front pages, often ahead of the many positive accomplishments of U.S. troops in the battlefield, before all the facts have been gathered. During the past eight years in newsrooms, I heard a lot of talk from fellow journalists about "America's image in the world." If the media truly cared about our country's reputation, it would not rush to spotlight accidental deaths of civilians, which the enemy then frames as intentional and uses as a rallying force against the United States. Will there be more front page stories today with headlines like "Taliban may have caused civilian deaths." Of course not.