Ramadi Remodeled

This afternoon NPR has Tom Bowman acting like a real estate agent showing us a little fixer-upper called Ramadi. We hear that "American and Iraqi forces are starting to take back the city," that "there are signs of progress," and that "there are signs of color and life." Bowman simply repeats everything US military officials and allied Iraqis tell him as if it's simply true. This nonsense runs counter to just about all the news that's come out of Iraq since the start of the war. There are no qualifiers such as "he alleged" or "they claim."

Compare this approach to the statements of any person who is questioning or challenging the official US version of events. For example, in the story of the Egyptian blogger on the same show we hear that the Egyptian who was kidnapped by Americans in Italy "alleges" he was tortured (even though torture by Egyptian police is well documented).

It was painfully ironic to hear this sunny story on Ramadi on the same day that the US fought a 6 hour battle with insurgents in Ramadi and claimed that 12 insurgents were killed while Iraqi sources claimed it was about double that with women and children killed also.