Slowed To A Trickle

Sometimes, the absence of news is newsworthy. 

In recent days, the number of photos coming out of Ramadi has slowed to a trickle.  …Which is one of the few indications that a major military offensive is getting underway.

If you recall, the Administration couldn’t stop talking about the Fallujah offensive for a week before clamping down the hatches.  In contrast, this new push (targeting a city much larger than Fallujah) is taking place in a vacuum.

It might be due to the recent elections, and the belief (or spin?) that insurgents will soon swap physical aggression for the political kind.  It might involve the sting of embarrassment from the overblown promises and the miserable devastation left by the Fallujah campaign.  For whatever the reason, there seem to be few eyes on the Anbar province right now …and I’m sure the Washington political and military establishment couldn’t be more pleased.

(By the way, this shot was indexed under “Ramadi” in Yahoo News, but it was actually taken Saturday on the Baghdad airport road.)

(image: Akram Saleh/Reuters in YahooNews; link credit: juancole.)