When is news not news?
When is news not news? When it's rumor and propaganda — and this remains true even if every major news outlet prints it. I'm sure you haven't forgotten the New York Times' gruesome headline: "30 beheaded bodies found; Iraqi death squads blamed." The first paragraph repeated this point, and made it quite clear that there's a huge problem here:
The bodies of 30 beheaded men were found on a main highway near Baquba this evening, providing more evidence that the death squads in Iraq are becoming out of control.
Go a few paragraphs further, and you'll discover it's all part of that simmering Iraqi civil war (which never would have happened but for Chimpy Bush Hitler, of course):
The widespread suspicion is that Shiite death squads are aiming at Sunni Arab civilians in a wave of sectarian revenge. The death squads are thought to be connected to Shiite militias and Shiite-controlled police forces. They seem to be the response to a bombing campaign that has killed hundreds of Shiite civilians and destroyed a number of Shiite mosques, most notably the revered golden-domed Askariya Shrine in Samarra last month.
The only problem? This story is apparently just as true as the cannibalism in New Orleans. Thus, as UPI reports:
A top U.S. general in Iraq said reports that 30 headless bodies were found north of Baghdad were false.
"We went to multiple sites to look for the 32 headless bodies that was reported to our headquarters, and we did not find anything; nor did any of the local citizens that were in these areas could verify that anybody had ever been in there. So I look at that report as completely false right now," said Maj. Gen. James Thurman, the commanding general of the 4th Infantry Division.
The 4th ID is responsible for Baghdad, Najaf, Karbala and Babil provinces. It took over Baghdad — one of the most dangerous places to serve in Iraq — on Jan. 7.
Iraqi police reported March 27 that 30 headless bodies had been found in Mulla Eed, a town about 65 kilometers north of Baghdad. Police suggested the corpses were victims of sectarian violence, set off in the wake of the Feb. 22 bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra. News of the grim discovery temporarily halted discussions between factions attempting to form a national unity government.
Circling back to the cannibalism, that reminds me of a quip by a black comedian in the late 1950s, early 1960s (and I can't remember his name). When told by a restaurant that the restaurant didn't serve blacks, he replied that this was fine with him, because he didn't eat blacks.
Hat tip: Power Line
UPDATE: I tracked the joke down. It was Dick Gregory, and here's how he tells it:
"Last time I was down South, I walked into this restaurant, and this white waitress came up to me and said, 'We don't serve colored people here.' I said, 'That's all right. I don't eat colored people. Bring me a whole fried chicken.'"
