National media rolls over and plays dead

The most disgraceful chapter in the national media's sorry coverage of the Iraq War is happening right now. The MSM simply refuses to seriously cover what is happening in Iraq except if it gets tape of a suicide bombing, which of course is exactly the outcome terrorists are trying to achieve.

There are major successes occurring on the ground in Iraq. We have moved Al Qaeda out of Baquba, its base of operations. We have helped turned many of the Iraqi people against Al Qaeda. Yet, there's nobody there to report it. Jules Crittenden, journalist/blogger, says this in a comprehensive, forceful, must-read post:

So please let me know if you find it: An actual, meaningful, in-depth look at the execution of the counter-insurgency strategy in Iraq by someone who has taken the time to understand what its goals and methods are, and isn't just interested in kicking the crap out of it from a distance. An effort to understand and report fairly on what may be the last chance to prevent a bloody humanitarian disaster on a scale not seen since Cambodia, quick, before the opportunity is thrown away.

I was going to wrap this rant up right there, but I read back over it and still can't believe it. It is absolutely stunning in its absence. A screaming vacuum. I wonder how it is this possible.

Meanwhile, to prove the point, Hugh Hewitt interviews war blogger Michael Yon, who has been on the ground in the heart of the action. Keep in mind that Yon is no neo-con lapdog: he declared Iraq a civil war in early 2005.

HH: Now yesterday, Harry Reid said on the floor of the Senate that the surge has failed. Do you think there's any factual basis for making that assertion, Michael Yon, from what you've seen in Iraq over the last many months?

MY: He's wrong, he's wrong. It has absolutely not failed, and in fact, I'm finally willing to say it in public. I feel like it's starting to succeed. And you know, I'm kind of stretching a little bit, because we haven't gone too far into it, but I can see it from my travels around, for instance, in Anbar and out here in Diyala Province as well. Baghdad's still very problematic. But there's other areas where you can clearly see that there is a positive effect. And the first and foremost thing we have to do is knock down al Qaeda. And with them alienating so many Iraqis, I mean, they're almost doing it for us. I mean, yeah, it takes military might to finally like wipe them out of Baquba, but it's working. I mean, I sense that the surge is working. Reid is just wrong.

Because the MSM is closing its eyes to success, they let Reid and other Democrats get away with statements that are clearly false. No wonder Joe Lieberman is embarrassed to be a Democrat.

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