MICHAEL YON POSTS A NEW REPORT FROM BAQUBAH: There’s lots of interesting news, and you should read the whole thing, but this paragraph struck me:

Media coverage went from a near monopoly (Michael Gordon from New York Times and me) to a nearly capsized boat as journalists flooded in from other parts of Iraq to see the fight. They managed to miss most of it. Today, I’m told, there are now only 3 journalists remaining, including one writer (me.)

As with the Battle for Mosul, which I held in near monopoly for about five months during 2005, the most interesting parts of the Battle for Baqubah are unfolding after the major fighting ends. But as the guns cool, the media stops raining and starts evaporating, or begins making only short visits of a week or so.

With short attention spans and limited coverage, it’s hard for the press to give us an accurate picture of what’s going on. Some related thoughts here.

UPDATE: Checked my other email account and found this email from Michael Yon:

Baqubah has so quieted down that it’s nothing like I have ever seen it. Practically no fighting. . . . It’s Friday so there will likely not be much happening downtown today, so I stayed on base to write about the goings-on. I wrote about the lethargy of the local Iraqi leadership a couple weeks ago, but the energetic leadership of U.S. Army seems to be catching. The Iraqis are much more into the fight than they were back on 19 June with Arrowhead Ripper kicked off. We are now D+17 (17 days since Arrowhead Ripper kicked off), and the changes in Baqubah are remarkable. I am cautiously optimistic. Very cautious, and very optimistic.

It’s all about the momentum.