ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS:

Got that? The New York Times reporter was an officer in Saddam’s army. Nice. By the way, officers were not drafted (that’s how the enlisted ranks were filled). Officers had to be selected and regularly vetted for loyalty and effectiveness. So Saddam decided that he could trust our intrepid correspondent and so did the New York Times. . . . This is Seinfeld reporting—“news” about nothing.

As for the New York Times, one wonders why they didn’t embed a reporter with the Iraqi forces streaming south. Like Dr. Zaius, were they afraid of what they might find?

Ouch. (Link was bad initially; fixed now.)

UPDATE: A journalistic shell game.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Sadr’s triumphant surrender: “The media appear to be unanimous: by getting his butt kicked, surrendering control of Basra, and being mocked as an Iranian catspaw Sadr has… succeeded. . . . I haven’t seen the media swoon this hard over a militant anti-American in decades. Is Sadr the new Che?” Well, Che was an incompetent buffoon who was a media hero, so . . . .

MORE: Heh.

STILL MORE: A lengthy defense from Damien Cave of the New York Times. I’ve known Cave as an honest reporter since before he went to the NYT, and his reporting on Iraq has been good. It’s a bit lengthy, so click “read more” to read it.