SHAME ON THE POST

Every day pundits on cable television argue over whether or not its possible for democracy to take root in Iraq.

Well today there's a major milestone on the road towards that goal.

The first meeting of the most representative governmental body in the region, formed in the process closest to an election in the region.

It's bad enough that the Post stuffs that news on page A-12. What's worse is this: every day the Post, like the Times has an article that, were the headline accurate, would be called, list of stuff that happened in Iraq today. And that's where the news of this first meeting ends up. Or, more accurately, all that other stuff ends up in the article about this meeting, cluttering it up, making the meeting seem less important.

I mean, just look at the way the article starts:

Iraq's interim National Council convened for the first time on Wednesday, taking what one delegate called "the first steps in a democratic journey."

While participants spoke forcefully about continuing negotiations to persuade insurgents to work within a political framework, mortar explosions echoed outside the meeting and a delegate arrived in a convoy riddled with bullet holes after an early morning ambush.

In another development, seven kidnapped foreign truck drivers, from India, Kenya and Egypt, were reported released after six weeks in captivity. The men were said to be on their way to Kuwait after a video sent to news agencies showed a masked kidnapper shake hands with each of them and hand them copies of the Koran and a few religious brochures. A Turkish trucker was freed separately.

Late Wednesday, U.S. forces said they had launched an attack in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, on a safe house linked to members of the terrorist network run by Abu Musab Zarqawi, one of the most wanted insurgents in Iraq. The attack killed nine civilians, including three children, hospital officials said, according to the Associated Press. The U.S. military said it carried out a "precision attack" on members of Zarqawi's group, who earlier in the day had executed and buried a man after pulling him from the trunk of a car south of the city, largely controlled by Muslim extremists. "Multiple sources of Iraqi and coalition intelligence provided the basis for this operation," a U.S. military statement said.

At the National Council meeting, participants discussed measures to quell the fighting.

(Uh, note to NBC: you'll see here that the Post includes the military's response to the charge that civilians were killed in the latest airstrike on Fallujah.)

Are the Iraqis hopeful? You bet.

"Iraq is now breaking down, and you are the ones who can heal the wounds," Muhammad Rida Ghurayfi, a Shiite cleric close to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the top spiritual figure in Iraq, told his fellow council members minutes after they swore an oath to serve until nationwide elections are held early next year.

"Shells and mortars exploding around us will not make us afraid," said Hamid Majid Musa, head of the Iraqi Communist Party. "We want to build a strong establishment."

They've identified as their first task bringing the political parties that boycotted the process into the fold. And how's this for good news: they selected a Kurdish politician as their president.

I keep hearing Americans say that if this is going to work, the Iraqis themselves are going to have to fight for their freedom, that we can't do everything for them.

Well, here are Iraqis, in there taking a swing at the pitch.

Wouldn't this news have a at least a possible impact on Americans support for the war?

But if it's covered in such a way that Americans never actually notice the news, there's no chance for the events themselves to actually influence American opinion, is there?

Well, is there?

Shame on the Post. This is a huge milestone, for the Iraqi people and for us, and it should be a huge story.

Comments

[Suzanne]

I agree, this is important news. But working for a newspaper I will point out that they are a business, and good news doesn't sell papers. There's an old saying, "If it doesn't bleed, it doesn't lead."

It's a very sad state of affairs, and the one thing I hate about my job.

[dauber]

But that's an assumption that you all make. Isn't Iraq in toto a story that people are deeply invested in? Get creative. Make it interesting. Just shrugging complaints like this off with "hey, it's a tradition" promotes a way of thinking that never ever changes.