WHAT THEY BURY

As U.S. soldiers slowly decimate his militia, Moqtadr al Sadr is also losing the propaganda war. Just as interesting as the apparently decisive attack in Karbala is the following news:

Special Forces soldiers led teams of Iraqi commandos to the area and drove the insurgents from the shrine during an intense firefight. The two dozen or so Iraqi commandos who helped the Americans in the battle were part of the Iraqi Counter Terrorist Force, trained in Jordan to combat insurgents. They acted under the supervision of Special Forces, who instructed them on clearing munitions from the Mukhaiyam Mosque and shrine and from the high school. Special Forces soldiers guided much of the battle on the ground, storming the mosque and setting up a base there to direct troops.

This Counter-Terrorist Force is the spearhead of the future Iraqi army. The results were impressive:

The Special Forces soldiers appeared impressed by the weapons caches found in the area. Those included powerful 155-millimeter artillery shells, Italian land mines and sniper rifles. In all, the munitions were the equivalent of more than 100 roadside bombs, one of the most effective killers of American soldiers in Iraq, a military intelligence analyst said.

The battle against Sadr may be a turning point in Iraq’s transition. Which is why the story is buried inside the NYT.

WHAT THEY PUBLISH: The Boston Globe won’t publish the most graphic parts of beheading of Nick Berg, but they will publish fake photos of alleged G.I. The same goes for the London Daily Mirror, a rabid anti-war paper whose photographs of British abuses were “almost certainly faked,” according to Blair.