Don't forget about Iraq

As violence continues to the southwest of Iraq (Israel and Lebanon), the state of Iraq took a turn for the worst today.  In the northern town of Tuz Khurmatu, a suicide bomber went into a crowded cafe and blew himself up, killing 19 and wounding 25.

Back in Baghdad, the head of the main oil company in northern Iraq was kidnapped:

Travelling in a plain, unofficial car to avoid attention, Qazaz wasbeing driven back to the northern oil capital of Kirkuk following ameeting at the Oil Ministry when gunmen in two cars forced his vehicleto stop in northern Baghdad. Qazaz's bodyguards were overpoweredand the assailants drove off with their hostage. Nothing had been heardfrom the kidnappers, the official added.

But that incident today was only the tip of the iceberg.  There were security incidents all over Iraq:

BAGHDAD - A blast inside a Sunni mosque in Baghdad's Saidiya districtwounded three people, police said. It was not immediately clear whatcaused the blast.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen freed a dozenwounded prisoners and shot dead four policemen in an audacious raid ona major hospital north of Baghdad on Sunday, police said.

BASRA- A British soldier was killed and another wounded during an operationto seize a suspected "terrorist" in Iraq's restive southern city ofBasra, 550 km (340 miles) south of Baghdad, the British military said.

BAGHDAD - Four people were killed and 10 wounded when two mortar roundslanded on al-Rasool village 30 km northeast of Baghdad, police said.

KIRKUK - A gunman was killed and two wounded in clashes with Iraqipolice and U.S. soldiers in Kirkuk in northern Iraq. The gunbattleerupted after the gunmen ambushed an army major in his car, woundinghim, police said.

BAQUBA - Gunmen attacked the medical detentiondepartment in Baquba main hospital and freed at least 13 prisoners andkilled four policemen, police said. Three mortar rounds landed aroundthe hospital before the attack, police added.

NEAR TIKRIT - Gunmen killed three people near Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BALAD - Two bodies were found shot dead with signs of torture in twoseparate incidents in Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, onSaturday and Sunday, police said.

MUQDADIYA - Gunmen killedFaris Abdul Latif, a former member of the ousted Baath Party, alongwith his son in a market in Muqdadiya, 100 km (60 miles) northeast ofBaghdad, police said. A woman passerby was also killed in the attack.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi government is still reacting from Saturday's devastating news that insurgents have kidnapped the head of the Iraqi Olympic Committee, and a dozen or so of his colleagues.  All this happened in broad daylight with gunmen dressed up as Iraqi policemen.

Many conservatives think that the mainstream media has a liberal bias and is reporting only the bad stuff going on in Iraq.  I would contend that the mainstream media does not report enough.  You don't see all this information on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News.  You have to dig in the fast reaches of the internet in order to find every security incident in Iraq.  You know why?  If the the cable networks reported every single security incident, we would be out of Iraq now.  Instead, the mainstream media even repeats the GOP talking point that Democrats want to cut and run.  What they call cutting and running I call pragmatic objectivism.  When your occupation recruits more insurgents than it kills, then you obviously have to change course.

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Other blogs writing about this issue: Raed in the Middle, Crooks and Liars, Digg, Iraq the Model, MyDD, The Belmont Club, Media Matters for America, Mojo Blog, Center for Media and Democracy, Political Animal, Wonkette.