Glenn Greenwald poses a good question and gives us a telling answer:
Q. If you’re a Bush administration official and you want to create a prominent headline in Time Magazine proclaiming what great improvement there is in Iraq, what do you do?
A. Have someone with a shiny military uniform go and flatter Joe Klein by whispering “secrets” in his ear all while demanding anonymity, and then he’ll dutifully run to the pages of Time and mindlessly repeat what he’s been told as though he has discovered some great journalistic scoop, which is how Time will treat it.
Klein’s article — entitled “Is al-Qaida on the Run in Iraq”? — is, according to Time’s site, the single most popular article in that magazine. And, predictably enough, it is being hailed by every standard war proponent.
Joe Klein’s latest column is headlined:
Is al-Qaeda on the Run in Iraq?
As you might expect, the article is a load of garbage that doesn’t provide an answer, either in the affirmative or negative. For those who dote on the Bush Administration, 3 days of decreased violence can only mean one thing – the war is being won.
And then there is Klein’s assurance that what his special military friend told him is consistent with what was said by “several other sources.” There is, of course, no need to provide any information about these “several other” corroborating sources — government? military? those invested in the pro-war position? AEI “war scholars”? — because Klein knows who they are and thinks they’re credible and you can and should just trust his judgment.
The Grand Poobah of wingnuts, Glenn Reynolds, predictably ran to Klain’s defense. On Joe Klein’s column, Reynolds writes:
You know, if I didn’t know better I’d think that some of the lefty bloggers would actually be happier if things were going badly.
The deluded Reynolds seems to have missed the fact that things ARE going badly. Very badly. For example, in Anbar province, today and this from Juan Cole.
Guerrillas Kill 9 US GIs
Over 100 Dead in New Wave of Violence
Sectarian Killings at forefront Again
But war critics aren’t supposed to notice such realities, because it’s just plain unpatriotic, not to mention rude.
But the real fault lies with anyone who points any of this out, because they want the U.S. to lose. What is most amazing is that the same people (like Reynolds) who have been lying to the country for four straight years about all of the Glorious Progress being made in Iraq continue to expect that when they speak, anyone other than the shrinking band of hard-core war supporters will listen.
And if anyone doubts that the audience that Reynolds plays to is indeed shrinking, there’s this.
As President Bush and Congress hammer out an Iraq war funding bill, a CBS News/New York Times poll shows the number of Americans who say the war is going badly has reached a new high, rising 10 percent this month to 76 percent.