By Ankush
Inthe scheme of annoying things about the media, this may rank prettylow, but every time an American official makes an unannounced visit toIraq, I go a little nuts.
The Times, the Post, and the LA Times all refer to Condoleezza Rice's trip to Baghdad today as a "surprise" visit, either in a headline, a homepage teaser, or a lead paragraph. At various points some of these stories call the visit "unannounced," as does the AP. They then all go on to recount what she told to reporters -- pretty much nothing you haven't already heard many times before -- after her meeting with the Prime Minister.
That's all well and good, so far as it goes, and is technically accurate, but no one ever explicitly writes about whythese visits are always a "surprise." The problem, of course, is thatfour years after our invasion, a high-level American official stillcan't go into Iraq without worrying about an assassination. The"surprises" are motivated, quite literally, by the fear of death.
Thisholds true, ironically, even as Rice talks up what she says is theinitial success of the new security plan. (Did you know the plan is called "Enforcing the Law"? That elemental objective tells you pretty much everything you need to know about the current state of affairs.) The closest we get to some sort of acknowledgment of this fact is the AP's report, twenty-five paragraphs into its story, that "[a]t least two tracer or flares apparently were fired at a group of helicopters ferrying Rice's party into" Baghdad.
Andwho are these visits a "surprise" to, anyway? I've always been curiousabout how far in advance the Iraqi government is even told about them. After all, they are our allies, right? It's not like telling thegovernment well in advance about an American official's visit -- and asking them to keep it secret -- could possibly expose the official to danger, is it?
In all seriousness, someoneshould aggressively report a story with a headline like this: "ConcernsOver Assassination Result in Rice's 'Surprise' Visit." That article isbound to be more interesting than anything you read about Rice's trip today.
