as it is, i'm still wondering where that "sophisticated propoganda war" of the insurgent's is located? i sure haven't seen it. can someone link me to it?

as far as reporting in general is concerned, no doubt there are some "good things" happening in iraq: schools & hospitals rebuilt, etc. however, this isn't something to get real excited about, since we were the ones that blew them up in the first place.

it's customary, when you destroy someone else's property, in the absence of a legitimately compelling reason, to replace it. i don't consider that "good things", i consider that the right thing to do, since the iraqi people never asked us to invade in the first place.

as well, creating conditions ripe for chaos also doesn't constitute "good things", IMHO.

Their response is ignored by AP accounts.

The Associated Press denounces unfounded attacks on its story about six Sunni worshipers burned to death outside their mosque on Friday, November 24. The attempt to question the existence of the known police officer who spoke to the AP is frankly ludicrous and hints at a certain level of desperation to dispute or suppress the facts of the incident in question.

AP reporters who have been working in Iraq throughout the conflict learned of the mosque incident through witnesses and neighborhood residents and corroborated it with a named police spokesmen and also through hospital and morgue workers.

We have conducted a thorough review of the sourcing and reporting involved  and plan to move a  more detailed report  about the entire incident soon, with greater detail provided by multiple eye witnesses. Several of those witnesses spoke to AP on the condition that their names would not be used because they fear reprisals.

The police captain cited in our story has long been known to the AP reporters and has been interviewed in his office and by telephone on several occasions during the past two years.

He is an officer at the police station in Yarmouk, with a record of reliability and truthfulness. His full name is Jamil Gholaiem Hussein.

The AP stands by its story

Something doesn't add up here, and I assume it's something warbloggers don't want to address, as they cling to their anti-press fantasy to explain the Iraq debacle.

Pavlovian pain avoidance. Denial. Blame shifting. Ducking responsibility. Etc... etc...etc...etc.

All the usual stuff. If it weren't so sick it would be funny.

And... bonus... like wild rabid dogs routing through garbage for food they think they've found something to seize on and think they can sink their teeth into and repeat it ad nauseum (to themselves and each other mostly) to take the focus off the unbearable enormity of the debacle bush, and they by association and complicity, have created in Iraq. It's all the AP's fault, or somebody elses...

Totally expected:

Faith, Certainty and the Presidency of George W. Bush

"He truly believes he's on a mission from God. Absolute faith like that overwhelms a need for analysis..."
...
And for those who don't get it? That was explained to me in late 2002 by Mark McKinnon, a longtime senior media adviser to Bush, who now runs his own consulting firm and helps the president. He started by challenging me. ''You think he's an idiot, don't you?'' I said, no, I didn't. ''No, you do, all of you do, up and down the West Coast, the East Coast, a few blocks in southern Manhattan called Wall Street. Let me clue you in. We don't care. You see, you're outnumbered 2 to 1 by folks in the big, wide middle of America, busy working people who don't read The New York Times or Washington Post or The L.A. Times. And you know what they like? They like the way he walks and the way he points, the way he exudes confidence. They have faith in him. And when you attack him for his malaprops, his jumbled syntax, it's good for us. Because you know what those folks don't like? They don't like you!'' In this instance, the final ''you,'' of course, meant the entire reality-based community.

The bond between Bush and his base is a bond of mutual support. He supports them with his actions, doing his level best to stand firm on wedge issues like abortion and same-sex marriage while he identifies evil in the world, at home and abroad. They respond with fierce faith. The power of this transaction is something that people, especially those who are religious, tend to connect to their own lives.

I would venture that many more press people have been killed by our military than the "insurgents", who prefer to kidnap journalists and then take the ransom money (like the two mil from Faux News) and use it to purchase more, better, and deadlier weapons than they could previously afford.