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Below I made a post concerning the movement of U.S. troops into Ramadi to “set up shop.”  If you check out one of the sources, you will read that:

Soldiers expected that insurgents would eventually fight back in this city so dangerous that large swaths go unpatrolled. As soldiers dug into their positions, some took bets on how long it would take insurgents to start fighting back in force. 

In the post I discussed my view of the movement of U.S. forces into Ramadi, contrasting it with how we cleaned Fallujah.  It is clear that we are not taking the same approach.  We are using a much more surgical approach, wishing to avoid the massive civilian exodus that preceeded our operations in Fallujah.  Will this work?  Only time will tell.  But when it is finished, it will be considered a stroke of master strategy or a catastrophic failure.  I do not believe that there will be an in-between.

We hear somewhat contrasting reports, from AC130 gunships taking out insurgents, to civilians being told to stay in the city, to soldiers setting up shop and taking bets on when they were going to be attacked.  It is playing in the Arab-sympathetic press this way (the Arab Monitor, Italy):

Baghdad, 18 June – Hundreds of US occupation forces, aided by Iraqi armed forces, are on rampage in Ramadi. The troops are controlling all access points to the city which has been cordoned off since 10 June, deprived of water and electricity. US military airforce is repeatedly striking at residential areas, while ground forces roam through the streets calling on the residents to evacuate the city.

So it has been reported that we are calling on residents to evacuate the city.  Over at NPR, we get another perspective on Ramadi:

I don’t think they can fathom what it is like to be mortared for three days straight in a camp. I don’t think they can realize the scope and magnitude of operations that go on on a daily basis here in Ramadi. You know we kind of laugh at the fact that the big news for Fox News is that a roadside bomb has gone off in Baghdad somewhere, whereas we get seven that go off here in one day or we kill 40 insurgents in one day and it doesn’t even make the news.

So where is the U.S. Press?  A major operation is going on.  Our boys are in harm’s way.  The tactical approach is different than it was in Fallujah, but the desired outcome is the same.  Are U.S. forces sitting in a hole waiting to be attacked and taking bets on when it will happen?  What kind of strategy is that?  Are residents being told to stay home or evacuate the city?  Are Spectre gunships taking out insurgents?  Are we patroling the city yet?  How many troops are there?  Are we succeeding or not?

This is an embarrassing and abject failure on the part of the U.S. press.  Don’t believe me?  Do a google search on Ramadi news.  See how many hits you get from U.S. news outlets.  It is deplorable.  News should be about news.  Let’s get going, professional press.

Update #1: The Strategy Page is reporting a little on the Ramadi offensive, saying in part:

June 19, 2006: Iraqi and American troops have surrounded and moved into Ramadi, a town that has long been a stronghold for Sunni Arab nationalists. Ramadi has become a magnet for terrorists, because of the many pro-terrorist neighborhoods there that will shelter them. Suicide car bombs, and terrorists in general, have been traced back to these Ramadi neighborhoods, and the new operation appears to be directed at shutting down some terrorist cells.

The new leadership of al Qaeda in Iraq is now running a largely Iraqi force. But the al Qaeda strategy has apparently not changed, yet. Sunni Arab death squads and terrorists continue to attack Shia Arabs. But the Shia Arabs who predominate in the police and army are fighting back. There are also more Shia Arab death squads, although some of the Sunni Arabs murdered are still dying at the hands of radical Sunni Arab nationalists trying to terrorize moderate Sunni Arabs into supporting terrorism. Many Iraqi Sunni Arabs are determined to fight to the death, to either regain power, and control of the oil wealth, or die trying.

This post at the Strategy page is not up-to-date enough to show that the two U.S. soldier’s bodies have been found.  However, these two young men are mentioned in the piece.  God bless their families.  They are heros, and they died protecting our country.  But rather than pray for the boys in Ramadi hunting insurgents or the folks who are hunting the people that did this (could they be the same?), the folks over at Daily Kos go a-handwringing over Iraq in general again.  They talk to themselves, about themselves and without communicating much (other than their love of themselves and hatred for all others).  And all the while, the press sits idle while there is a major offensive going on in Ramadi. Someone wake up from this drunken slumber, please. Let’s clear our heads and pray for the boys.  Someone in the U.S. press — could you please tell us what is going on over there?  Could we forget about ourselves if only for a minute?

Update #2: The Marine Corps Times weighs in on Ramadi, telling us just a little bit more, but not much.  In part, the article says:

U.S. commanders said the move wasn’t the precursor to a rumored offensive to drive insurgents from Ramadi — but rather an “isolation� tactic to prevent the fighters from receiving arms and reinforcements from outside.

Ramadi is the capital of Anbar province, a huge, restive area to the west of Baghdad.

American forces already controlled other routes into the city, and the construction of the two southern outposts suggests U.S. and Iraqi commanders are taking a gradual approach to confronting what some call the capital of the insurgency.

Ramadi is one of Iraq’s most violent cities, with roadside bombings and gunbattles daily. U.S. patrols have been confined to small sections of the city, and tribal leaders who have cooperated with U.S. forces have been assassinated or forced to flee.

The go-slow approach could be an indication the military wants to avoid a full-scale assault like that in nearby Fallujah in November 2004, which enraged Sunni Arabs. Iraq’s new unity government is trying to persuade fighters in the Sunni-led insurgency to disarm.

No doubt Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki would prefer to avoid large-scale combat in Ramadi as he tries to bring together Iraq’s often warring ethnic and sectarian communities.

He says he will in coming days present a national reconciliation plan, under which his government already has begun releasing 2,500 prisoners, most of them Sunni Arabs from places like Ramadi.

City residents had feared a Fallujah-style offensive on the city, but joint U.S.-Iraqi operations over the past two days have focused on limited residential areas bordering on the city’s southern and eastern perimeters.

According to the United Nations’ IRIN news agency, nearly 1,500 families — or about 10,000 people — fled Ramadi. There was no way to independently determine which number was more accurate.

U.S. soldiers reported that streets from the city center to the eastern edge were devoid of traffic. U.S. soldiers searching through homes found several to be deserted.

“A large majority of the houses we entered today were vacant. Some people have taken their belongings and moved to the more rural areas around Ramadi, having expected a large coalition operation,� said Capt. Joe Claburn, 29, of the 1st Battalion, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.

Lt. Col. Ronald Clark called the Mulaab neighborhood targeted in the latest push “one of the most dangerous areas in all of Iraq.� Clark said the new outpost would degrade the insurgency’s capabilities — and its image — among local residents.

“When you plant a flag on the enemy’s favorite playground, that sends a very strong signal to the Iraqi people and to the enemy,� said Clark, commander of the 1st battalion.

The question still remains: Where is the U.S. press?  Can we put down our doughnuts and coffee and get this story please?