A near perfect example of the AP's determined effort in support of the Bad Guys, to undermine the public's confidence in the war effort and to minimize the accomplishments of the US Military is on full display in today's Arizona Republic.
Published on Page A8, the headline reads:
"Aide: Sadr could lift cease-fire amid anger over U.S. raids"
Indeed, the first paragraph of the story says just that:
"Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr could end a ban on his milita's activities because of rising anger over U.S. and Iraqi raids against his followers, an aide said Friday amid concerns about rising violence and clashes between rival factions in the mainly Shiite south"
Eight paragraphs later, in paragraph nine, we are told:
"Sadr nonetheless renewed his appeal to uphold the cease-fire and threatened to expel Mahdi army members who don't in what his office called a response to questions from supporters about whether the cease-fire still applied in the face of the U.S. crackdown."(sic)
Apparently rather than report the news (facts): Sadr renewed the cease-fire the AP reporter(s) preferred to report their hope(speculation): Sadr could end the cease-fire.
Obviously, if this was a news story the headline would have read:
" Amid anger over U.S. raids Sadr reafirms committment to cease-fire"
and the ninth paragraph would have appeared first, the first, ninth.
In addition to the nugget above, midway through the story we are told that the U.S. Army announced the discovery of a big cache of Iranian arms. We are then told:
"The military has announced a series of such finds in recent days as it seeks to bolster its claim of Iranian support for rogue Shiite fighters".
A real reporter, without an agenda, probably would have written the same information somewhat differently:
The military has announced a series of such finds in recent days bolstering its claim of Iranian support for rogue Shiite fighters.
There, now I feel better although I hate having to do the AP's job for it.
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