we agree with
atrios on this one: a
wol's trip to baghdad was pretty much a good thing. we ourselves are surprised he found the balls to do it, but anything to pick up morale for our troops is something to applaud.
what we don't get is how the press treated it like some amazing feat of magic or parting of the waters. apparently awol fooled all the press by leaving crawford in an unmarked car. the press was amazed and aghast that he slipped by them.
of course, what they really mean is, they were amazed that nobody fed them advance pr notice.
we remember in the old days, say, the carter administration, when the government tried to conduct a secret raid into iran to get the hostages. actual journalists actually knew that "something" was up. they had feelers to the ground, and could spot activity in the corridors of power. they knew something was happening.
these days, the commander in chief can fly halfway across the world into a hostile war zone, and journalists are none the wiser, unless somebody hands them a press release. we think this says more about the lack of actual investigative reporting than it does about the administration. how hard is it to manipulate today's press, if they can't even spot awol riding out of crawford? not that many people have that deer-in-the-headlights look about them, it couldn't have been hard to guess who it was under that baseball cap.
of course, some journalists did know, but were asked to keep it a secret. because it was like they were in the super special club. newsday talks about being part of the exlusive group aboard air force one en route to the secret baghdad brunch in this article, appropriately titled "awol on air force one." (we knew the meme of calling bush awol over and over would eventually catch on! score one for skippy!)
some of the press was not so impressed (pun intended). msnbc, while respectful, correctly labled the trip as "thanksgiving theater." the australian broacasting company called it a "pre-election pr stunt." and the ap (via the sfchron) reported that
"it meant little to the iraqi people. some are welcoming it, but most are dismissing its importance," said kamal mehdi, a cashier in baghdad.
and, just to bring it all back to reality, the carlisle, pa sentinel reports u.s. soldier killed day after bush visit.
crossed posted at our own blog skippy the bush kangaroo.