En noget vigtigere historie

I et indlæg i Post-Gazette prøvede Jack Kelly for nylig at irettesætte MSM for ikke at dække det reelt nyheds-værdige i Irak - at de irakiske sikkerhedsstyrker bliver stærkere og stærkere, og at de irakiske "oprørere", selv om de stadig kan slagte uskyldige i dusinvis dagligt, er ved at tabe krigen.

Mens han gjorde det gik han imidlertid åbenbart selv glip af en nyhed af enorm værdi, selv om den faktisk er med i hans indlæg. Læs selv - jeg har fremhævet det vigtige:

Al-Qaida has claimed credit for a large, sophisticated attack Monday on the two hotels in Baghdad where most foreign journalists and many defense contractors stay.

The attack failed, but it was a near-run thing.

The Palestine and Sheraton hotels are across a short street from each other, adjacent to Firdous Square, a traffic roundabout where the statue of Saddam Hussein was torn down on April 9, 2003.

The attack involved three suicide bombers and an unknown number of other fighters. The attack took place at dusk, over a span of four minutes. Several news organizations were tipped off in advance, and cameras were rolling.

Fangede i den? Når "oprørere" og journalister arbejder sammen på en sådan måde er det ikke usædvanligt, at de amerikanske tropper ser mere og mere skeptiske på de medier, hvis sikkerhed de beskytter med deres liv, mens medierne sviner dem til. Kelly fortsætter:

The view of many that the news media are the insurgents' allies was reinforced by a Reuters story Tuesday that equated the suicide attack to the incident in April 2003, when a U.S. tank fired on the Palestine Hotel, killing two journalists. (The hotel had not yet been taken by U.S. forces, who were fighting Saddam's men in the streets. The journalists were on a balcony. One was pointing a camera at the tank. At a distance, a television camera looks a great deal like a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.)

Henrik