A pleasant surprise

A few days ago, I posted the Washington Post’s account of the liberation of Najaf, which highlighted the jubilant reception of our troops by the local Iraqis. In the title of my post, I wondered whether the New York Times had provided its readers with such an account. It turns out that the Times did, in a report by Jim Dwyer under the headline “Cheers and Smiles for U.S. Troops in a Captured City.” Dwyer also reported, in the same piece, that U.S. troops had discovered minefields on roads and bridges in the area and that the mines were made in Italy. Dwyer quoted an American officer who said, “Europeans are anti-war, but they are pro-commerce. I found out about Dwyer’s report in the Weekly Standard, which expressed surprise that such an “excellent” piece appeared in the Times.