"You would basically be in the shower and then I would come in and I'd join you and you would have your back to me and I would take the little loofa thing and...."

Wingnuts to the rescue!

Coverage of the war in Iraq by the U.S. media has been criticized by many of us on the left, particularly in light of the Lancet study estimate that at least 550,000 Iraqi deaths have been "overlooked" in casualty reports. In the past week or so, however, there has come a new barrage from the right regarding the reports of atrocities committed against Sunni civilians by militias and death squads closely allied with the current government led by Shia politicians. Leading the charge has been a frequent commentator on Fox television, Michelle Malkin. Following the lead of "Curt" of the blog Flopping Aces, Michelle has been questioning the veracity and even the very existence of an Iraqi source for AP news reports named Jamil Hussein. Now both Michelle and Curt are actually going to Baghdad in search of Jamil, sponsored by the veteran television journalist and creater of the Iraqslogger blog, Eason Jordan.

As copper Curt himself admits, "this is one big media stunt." Greg Sargent recalls that Michelle and Curt have not always been friendly or respectful toward Eason, and their objectives may deviate from what Jordan has in mind. Markos wishes them a safe trip, particularly encouraging Michelle and Curt to venture outside the Green Zone and refuse any offers from U.S. soldiers to provide security. As we have been hearing from Laura Bush, things are truly splendid over there what with all those great new schools!

Meanwhile, Fox's Christmas crusader Bill O'Reilly appears to have scooped the Hussein hit team by showing up at the Camp Striker mess hall in Baghdad for chow. His dinner companion, SFC Vivienne Pacquette of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands seemed to be unaware of O'Reilly's long-standing interest in the West Indies as expressed so graphically in his taped remarks to his former assistant, Andrea Macklis. According to Vivienne, Bill "was very down-to-earth and easy to talk to."