Traditional media downplays security crisis in Iraq

Just one month before General Petraeus' report to Congress, the traditional media is giving the Bush Administration all the political cover and momentum they need.  Because after all, if the Iraq war ends, the media would have to more devote time to, heaven forbid, health care and energy independence -- issues that don't have as much entertainment value as Geraldo Rivera drawing lines in the Iraqi sand.

This morning the USA Today resorted to citing Pentagon talking points that major attacks in Iraq have declined since the troop surge began.  Of course, the word "major" is open to interpretation.

So is the violence really down?  Based on news over the last 72 hours from Iraq -- you tell me:

YUSUFIYA - U.S. and Iraqi forces searching for information about thekidnapping of two American soldiers detained 22 suspected insurgents onSaturday, the U.S. military said. The U.S. military said Iraqi troopshad entered a mosque to detain the suspects in Yusufiya just south ofBaghdad, while U.S. forces surrounded the mosque but did not enter it.The two American soldiers have been missing since May.

BAGHDAD - U.S. forceskilled an estimated three to five men suspected of bringing weaponsfrom Iran and arrested 13 others in a pre-dawn raid in the Shi'ite slumof Sadr City in eastern Baghdad on Sunday, the U.S. military said.

SAMARRA - Gunmen killed three civilians on Sunday when they openedtheir fire in central Samarra 100 km (62 miles) north of Baghdad,police said.

BAGHDAD - Three people were wounded by a mortar attack in eastern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - The Iraqi army killed three insurgents and arrested 11 onSunday in a raid in the northern city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles)north of Baghdad, the Defence Ministry said.

KIRKUK - Threewere wounded in a roadside bomb attack near a police patrol in thenorthern city of Kirkuk, police said. They also said a person wasinjured in a separate mortar attack.

BAGHDAD - U.S. troopscaptured a key financier of a militant group believed to have directties to Iran during a pre-dawn raid in western Baghdad, the U.S.military said.

AL-ZAP - Gunmen killed the head of the Sunni Arabal-Jubour tribe and wounded two of his sons when they burst into hishouse on Sunday night in al-Zap 35 km (20 miles) southwest of thenorthern city of Kirkuk, police said.

HILLA - Gunmen killed one Iraqi soldier in central Hilla 100 km (62 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

ISKANDARIYA - Police said they recovered a body from the Euphratesriver and found another one Iskandariya 40 km (25 miles) south ofBaghdad on Sunday.

TIKRIT - Bombers blew up an empty housebelonging to colonel Esam al-Azzawi, head of a police academy, inTikrit 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

TIKRIT - Kidnappers seized the mayor of the town of Dijla, near Tikrit, police said.

And of course, the press corps can only report in places where it is safe enough to send undercover Iraqis out to investigate security incidents -- so there may have been more.  Like in Basra, where a group of insurgents have taken control of the airport.  According to Ken Pollack, a member of the Brookings Institution who just returned from Iraq, the situation in the south is out of control (he actually used those words):

Ken Pollack, a foreign affairs expert at the Washington-based BrookingsInstitution, who returned last month from an eight-day visit to Iraq,dismissed last week the British presence in southern Iraq as"meaningless". He said: "I am assuming the British will no longer be[in southern Iraq]. They are not there now. We have a battle groupholed up in Basra airport. I do not see what good that does except forflying people in and out. It's the wild, wild west. Basra is out ofcontrol."

When Britain begins withdrawing from Iraq at the end of this year, US forces will have to fill the void in southern Iraq, stretching the military even thinner than it already is.

So again, is the situation getting better?  Not even close!