There is a reason progress in Iraq is not receiving more attention. It isn?t that Americans are “bored” or “tired” or have “moved on” or “don?t care” or “have already made up their minds that the war was a colossal mistake.” All of these are variations on themes articulated by certain liberals, Bush-haters, and Barack Obama supporters (but I repeat myself) inside and outside the big media.
Themain reason progress in Iraq is not receiving more attention is that the progress is considerable and the big media are not paying attention because they don?t like the new story line. They prefer “America defeated,” not “America victorious” because defeat increases the likelihood of a Democratic electoral blowout in the fall.
A headline in last Saturday?s New York Times tells you all you need to know about the reluctance of the mainstream media to report on progress in Iraq. With what sounds like information produced only after an editor was water-boarded, it reads, “Big Gains for Iraq Security, but Questions Linger.”
If this headline writer were reporting victory in World War II, it might have read, “America wins; German and Japanese Psyche Seriously Affected.” The 1968 moon landing might have read: “Man Lands on Moon; Will It Hurt the Lunar Environment?”
Because there will be no documents of surrender in the Iraq war or in the greater war on terrorism, it will be difficult to declare it over and freedom the winner. But as The New York Times story and the oil deal demonstrate, considerable progress is being made and the naysayers are being proved wrong.
Who is going to tell that story if most of the big media won?t? Since journalists never acknowledge errors of judgment or wrong predictions and are never held accountable when they err, that job must fall to John McCain.
Cal Thomas is America?s most widely syndicated op-ed columnist and
author of 11 books.
