BBC Watch

This one’s a beaut:

The BBC’s Jim Muir in Baghdad says there are concerns that Mr Maliki’s plan will not work as it does not seek reconciliation with those at the heart of the insurgency – the radical Islamists, many of them foreigners, who want Iraq to be the centre of a new Islamic empire.

I wondered when the BBC would acknowledge the presence of al Qaeda in the insurgency – and its non-negotiable, maximalist goals. It appears they only do so when it can be used to throw cold water on any progress in the country.