Cherry picking the news from Iraq: Kate McMillan edition -- Part 1.

If there's one thing you can count on, it's that Canada's resident screech harpy and Lowest Common Denominatrix™ Kate McMillan will always, without fail, present you with a slanted, distorted and fundamentally dishonest picture of the news for whatever topic she happens to be writing about. Case in point -- and something I've been meaning to blog on for some time -- the alleged "handover" of Iraqi provinces back to the Iraqis as evidence that things are getting better there.

Witness, if you will, the excitable high-fiving here:

"One by one, the 18 provinces of Iraq are being turned over to the Iraqis"

and here:

Pershmergrrrls

ARBIL, Iraq (AFP) - In a blaze of pomp showcasing Kurdish military muscle, US forces handed over responsibility for security in Iraq's three northern provinces to the Kurdish regional government on Wednesday [...]

The handover was followed by a parade of Kurdish soldiers, including an all-female martial arts display.

Via Gateway Pundit;

7 of 18 Iraqi Provinces now control the security and governmental operations in their region.

How many Americans do you suppose know that?

Well, colour me pessimistic but I'm guessing that most of us don't know about that because, in a nutshell, it's utterly worthless news and means nothing. Let me demonstrate.

In chronological order, the order of turnover of the seven provinces thus far is (allowing for varieties in spelling) Muthanna, Dhi Qar, Missan, Nijaf, Sulaimaniyah, Arbil and Dohuk. Sure sounds impressive, doesn't it? Until you take a closer look.

Let's first consider the percentage of the Iraqi population that that actually represents (the column on the far right):


If you look closely, you'll notice that the majority of provinces that have been turned over are, for the most part, fairly small in terms of population. While 7/18 represents 38 per cent of the provinces, the corresponding population represents only 25 per cent of all of Iraq. So is it any wonder that wanks like Kate and Gateway Pundit would prefer to emphasize that 7/18 figure?

So it's already clear that the residents of the Wingnut-o-sphere are planning to play a bit fast and loose with the facts, and to spin them to their advantage. But when you dig into this further, it gets better. Oh, yeah, it gets so much better.

Stay tuned ...

(Cue really, really stupid wankers howling, "That's it!?!? That's all you've got?? A choice in how numbers are presented? Man, that's so lame," while ignoring the "Stay tuned" admonition. You know it's coming because those people are, well, stupid.)