In today's Austin American-Statesman the lead article is US-Led projects faltering in Iraq. The article is a generally solid piece of reporting but there is one piece of idiocy in the first para that deserves attention (emphasis mine).
"...inspectors for a federal oversight agency have found that in a sampling of eight projects the United States had declared successes, seven are no longer operating as designed....
Isn't this tortured framing a little odd? Just who is this "United States"? The truth is that someone in some part of the United States government lied to us - and we deserve to know exactly who it is.
Follow below the fold for more.
Two things got my attention here.
First, the construction "the United States had declared successes" isn't accidental - it is repeated at the start of the second para. Its either sloppy or misleading, some part of the United States Government made those false claims (ok lies) and I'd like to know just who the hell they are. Was it the Army, the State Department, the Department of Education?
I want names, I want dates, and I want some f#%$ing accountability. Who lied, when, and to who? You know - journalism.
Another odd thing is that the "federal oversight agency" is not identified in the lead. Later on (much later) Steward Bowen of the Special Inspector General for Iraqi Reconstruction is identified as the source. It would be nice to know this early on in the article so that the context is understood.
If this handpicked band of Bushies is surfacing this then it must be far worse than the article lets on. The story hints at this when it states later on that they couldn't do a larger sample because it was just too dangerous to get to many of the projects.
At least it is consistent with what they have been telling Congress - "Oversight is dangerous. Hey, thats a nice Capitol Building you got there - be a shame if something happened to it..."
The sad thing is the rest of the article is pretty good, well written, and evenhanded. It really is only the lead in that is off. Unfortunately this is all most people will read.
If you follow up with the Times or local paper please be respectful. It was written by James Glanz of the NYT.