Now the Iraqi authorities have acknowledged that this man is who the AP and Boehlert says he is.

I hope you will admit that you blew it with as much fanfare as your attacks. Or will you spin this and claim that the sources authenticity is now, suddenly, besides the point?

To use a hyperbolic analogy, if the Soviets weren’t able to control the information among the Soviet States and Client States, it may have died a long time ago.

If “warbloggers” believe that the war is important, and they honestly believe that media reporting has been a cause of the decline in the support of the endeavor, I see no reason why shining a light on the media’s misbehavior is somehow illegitimate.

For members of the media to say, “that’s our tactic, and you can’t use it” is, to my mind, an indication that it absolutely should be used.

Moreover, I TRULY disagree with the formulation that America is failing in Iraq.

The bottom line is that Iraq is failing in Iraq.

These people were given a shot at a civilization worth having, where differences are settled with other men as equals and without violence. George W. Bush and the American Military gave that opportunity to 23 million strangers, and that is something enormous in the history of the world.

Shouldn’t that have been enough? Why not? No, really. Why not?

Instead of working to created a decent, civil society, buckets of Iraqis instead chose to try to become the next Saddam Hussein; they chose to slaughter and dominate their neighbors.

If the Iraqis got their stuff together, the question of whether America is “failing” is moot.

You can lead a camel to water… but if the camel is too stubborn and stupid to drink it, can you really say the rider is to blame? Seems to me, you have a stubborn and stupid camel, regardless of what the rider does.

For those who think that America is the worst thing for believing it could bring democracy to that world, consider why that sounds so foolish, and you’ll realize that the problem is not with America, but with that world.

We brought democracy to Japan, preserved it enough to develop in S. Korea, restored it in Germany, inspired it all over Eastern Europe and the former Soviet States.

Why not the middle east?

They fooled everybody - almost.

How often do you question what you read? My history tutor certainly impressed on me that crucial skill: always question the source, whether it is a first-hand or second-hand account, what ideological, cultural or hi…

Is the best defense always a good offense? Eric Boehlert (a Salon editor who now writes for Media Matters) is getting a lot of attention in the blogosphere right now because of the ferocity of his defense of the MSM’s…

BOEHLERT MISSING THE POINT ABOUT AP SOURCING

A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.