News(less) on Iraq

It is not surprising to note that, in a quick perusal of today’s major newspapers, there appears not a word about Veteran’s Day. Our nation’s premier journalists do not seem to want to have to think about the military today. Nor is it surprising to find no substantive news on Iraq. Were things different in Iraq, were the facts much more in line with the narrative and world view of the hard left, we would be reading much more on both topics.

The Vietnam Era that bred the emotion-over-reason mentality and narcissism of today’s neo-liberals and journalists is over. They bet the farm on defeat in Iraq, with the high water mark of their charge being Harry Reid’s declaration of defeat and capitulation in response to four suicide bombings by al Qaeda in April.

What we are witnessing now are the neo-liberals in a state of denial.

The left, whether it be in government or in the press, is in "full court denial" about success in Iraq, a success even Osama bin Laden acknowledged in his tape of last month, stating "the darkness [in Iraq] has become pitch black."

In our government, the far left is still pressing to legislate defeat in Iraq. In the press, what you see now is the lack of any substantive reporting from Iraq in the major newspapers unless it can somehow be given a negative headline. As Jules Crittenden put it so humorously a few days ago, they are desperately seeking a fly to put in the ointment.

Today’s Washington Post is a case in point. They are running an AP story that is trying to wring the very last possible bit of mileage out of something that can be cast negatively on our efforts in Iraq.

The headline is "Death Marks Grim Afghanistan, Iraq Milestones." The milestone is the one passed last week in Iraq. It was widely reported on November 6 that Americans had suffered 852 killed in Iraq for the year, marking it as the deadliest year for U.S. forces since operations in Iraq began. It now gets revived, though there is nothing in the article about Iraq beyond noting again the number dead. So sad have the neo-liberals of our nation become.

Update: In the time it has taken me to write the above, and before I could get the cite, the Washington Post has edited the story to take all mention of Iraq out of the headline and out of the article. The cite I have above is from a cache. Here is the edited article that now appears on the WaPo site.

Fascinating.

As a side note, I should note that the term I am using, neo-liberal, is my own construct. The liberals of old were principled and intellectual honesty. Daniel Patrick Moynihan epitomized true liberals. What we see of the hard left today is an entirely different animal. They have eschewed reason and intellectual honesty in favor of invective and pursuit of power at all costs. Thus, the only way I can describe the modern left of today is "neo-liberal."