Watch America's Craven Press Crops in Action

I was alerted to this story by Missing Links, a blog by a ?Canadian? who translates Arabic language news.

If you read the American press corps, you might have learned that three members of the provincial council, all Sadrists, have been arrested.  No charges have been specified in any of the reporting.  This is from the L.A. Times, by Staff Writers:

Elsewhere, U.S. and Iraqi forces Wednesday arrested three members of the Maysan provincial council and 18 of the provincial Gov. Adil Maliki's guards as part of a campaign to restore government control in the provincial capital, Amarah, about 190 miles southeast of Baghdad, police said. The arrests were made at the governor's house.

Actually, very few of the thousands of U.S. outlets are carrying this story at all (I see a total of four, including the Miami Herald, San Francisco Chronicle, and McClatchy).

If you read, for example, Agence France Presse, you will learn one of the people arrested was the Governor.

And that story, from the LA Times?  It wasn't the story, just something buried in a larger piece about how well Iraqi-U.S. security arrangements are coming along.

For completeness, all versions are nearly identical. McClatchy does add a warrant has been issued for the Governor, but not that he was arrested. The Miami Herald's reporting was the most craven. ALL FOUR BURIED IT IN THE SAME STORY ABOUT HOW GOOD IRAQI-U.S. SECURITY ARRANGEMENTS ARE.

Elsewhere, U.S. and Iraqi forces in Maysan province arrested three members of the provincial council and 18 guards of the governor as part of the campaign to restore government control in the provincial capital, Amara, about 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, police said.