Bush's Stooges - The Mainstream Media and Two Days in Iraq

They bought it at the asking price. The Press practically peed on themselves to report about Bush's surprise visit to Iraq when the reality of the situation is completely different. Baghdad is so dangerous the Shrub couldn't announce his visit for fear of attack and our allies are so reliable he couldn't even tell them he was coming. So under the cover of a "surprise visit", a cover the Press bought without challenge or substantial dispute, Bush had to sneak into Baghdad and surprise the Prime Minister. The picture of his two aides in flak jackets and helmets during the helicopter ride from the airport to the Green Zone was priceless, though.

Then today, displaying "balance" Fox News would be proud of, the MSM reports that violence was down in Baghdad due to redeployment of 75,000 troops, both U. S. and Iraqi, into the capital. Once again, duh. Shrub announced the redeployment yesterday and lest we forget, the insurgents are also capable of redeployment and of tactics. Were I bossing the insurgents, today would be a day of reconnoiter, of learning where the troops are, where the U. S. Marines, acknowledged badasses throughout the world, are patrolling and where Iraqi police in baseball caps are. I'd react to my enemy, perhaps even redeploying to blow up oil rigs in Basra rather than city squares in Baghdad. And it would be quiet today while I planned my next move. But the MSM in their puppyish excitement, peed on the carpet again in reporting the quiet in Baghdad as if it were something other than predictable.

Of course, the U. S. Government and Military aren't going to say that the quiet (relative, there were only four casualties in the city today) isn't the result of the brilliant redeployment. The Iraqis won't state their weakness and we can't very well interview the enemy. So instead of reporting, instead of asking military experts who might offer a more believable alternative to the 75,000 troops scared the shit out of the enemy theory of the Shrub and his Military Minions, they go along with the party line and look hard for the next sorority girl vanishing under sexually suspect conditions.