No memorandum necessary, Part Two

With the military situation in Iraq having taken what appears to be a signficant turn for the better, the Washington Post’s coverage of the war itself has tended to move to the back pages. Yet Iraq continues to make the Post’s front page. Today, for instance, the paper’s two lead stories both pertain to Iraq. At the very top is the Post’s umpteenth front page story about Blackwater. Underneath, we learn that a dam near Mosul may collapse, and that this might have catastrophic consequences.
Not surprisingly, Congress’s approach to Iraq these days parallels the Post’s. Having been routed by General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker in September, Congress now holds hearings on corruption in Iraq.
These are sound strategies. A parlous military situation can always improve, but the Iraqi government will be corrupt to one degree or another for decades at least. Similarly, while harping endlessly on the alleged misdeeds of particular American soldiers risks a backlash, no one will take offense at story after story about alleged misdeeds by the Blackwater guards.