OOOPS

A correction from the Washington Post :

An Oct. 7 article and the lead Page One headline incorrectly attributed a quotation to Charles A. Duelfer, the chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq. The statement, "We were almost all wrong," was made by Duelfer's predecessor, David Kay, at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Jan. 28.

So the Post was almost all wrong about that.

Meanwhile Paul Bremer says he was selectively quoted (much as the ISG report was selectively quoted):

In recent days, attention has been focused on some remarks I've made about Iraq. The coverage of these remarks has elicited far more heat than light, so I believe it's important to put my remarks in the correct context.

On the other hand, I'm not aware of any clarification of Peter Jennings comment on ABC's World News Tonight on 7 October . Introducing a segment including video of combat in Iraq, the anchor said:

PETER JENNINGS: The war in Iraq has been going on for 18 months now and it is not very often that we see actual combat. It is usually a matter of luck, a camera person or a reporter being in the right place at the right time.

Ooooo... combat! What luck. "Hey GI, smile for the camera!"

Actually, although I find "lucky" the entirely inappropriate term, given that this nation has supposedly fallen into chaos, shouldn't such opportunities be abundant? Just curious.

But you've seen the last ever combat video from Iraq if NPR's advice to the military is taken seriously. In the wake of the smashing success in Samarra Renee Montagne notes on Morning Edition that destroying the enemy will only make them stronger:

RENEE MONTAGNE: U.S. and Iraqi forces are now conducting operations against insurgents south of Baghdad following the recent retaking of Samarra north of the capital. Still to come are expected larger campaigns in the densely populated Sunni rebel strongholds of Ramadi and Fallujah to help make way for elections in January, but there’s risks that those operations could result in large numbers of civilian casualties and prompt a backlash that only boosts support for insurgents.

Hopefully the commanders here in the field will pause to consider the dire consequences of backlash before rushing in willy-nilly to crush those "insurgents". Hopefully they'll proceed with caution, so more TV news crews can still "get lucky".

In summary: A correction, a clarification/refutation, an almost certainly inadvertent and unfortunate remark, and an utterly ridiculous and pointless piece of posturing.

Ladies and gentlemen, this was a cross section of today's MSM coverage of Iraq. Have a nice weekend.