As the once-mighty Mahdi Army of Mocqter al-Sadr dissolves, the MSM at first took little notice and now tells us that it is… bad news.

The shattering of Sadr’s militia–once 60,000 strong–and the firebrand cleric’s flight to Iran were first covered by Pajamas Media and our fellow blogo-nauts. The Associated Press et al took weeks to catch up.

Once they did, they found it to be another negative nugget. Another dangerous development for Bush and his benighted generals.

The Washington Post yesterday, in its news pages, wondered if the remnant of Sadr’s force might be a more deadly shard than the unified army was. Come again? Yes, rogue units can be harder to track and stop, but what is behind this determined half-empty view?

Isn’t just as likely that the smashing of Sadr’s Shia band is an early positive sign that the surge is working?

Isn’t saying that Sadr’s army is more dangerous than ever exactly the kind of psy-ops campaign that Sadr would wish to wage? Shouldn’t the press be just a wary of being used by the enemy forces as by ours?

Isn’t the more interesting story how it came to be that Sadr’s force evaporated? Did the changes in the rules of engagement and strategy brought in by Gen. David Petraeus turn the tide? Or was it something else? What compelled Sadr to flee?

A tick-tock (journo-speak for a beat-by-beat tracking of story from briefing rooms to street patrols) here would be valuable for explaining and understanding current events. That is the kind of reporting that is supposed to make the MSM unique.

Instead, we get glorified speculation about the future, which is, by definition, always unknowable.

It is not as if the press cannot get access to Gen. Petraeus and his senior staff. The military has public-affairs officers to handle their requests and soldiers and media speak the same language.

So why don’t they tell us what happened and why?

I am going to Iraq in a few days, on assignment from Pajamas HQ. I plan to find out for myself. Maybe my careless competitors have left a few scoops lying around unused…

As far as I know, I became a CIP for the first time today.

In her blue 1950s-airline hostess uniform, the Turkish Airlines representative told me that, since I am a CIP, heaven’s golden doors will open for me. Or words to that effect. I am not really sure what many benefits she was elaborating.

I was stopped by the term CIP. Finally, when she smiled again, I got a chance speak.

What is a CIP?

She searched my face. Was I joking? Was I not really a CIP? Or was I simply a CIP virgin?

“A CIP,” she said, “is a Commercially Important Person.”

Isn’t every customer commercially important? I mean, if they were not, why do business with them?

She only smiled.

“So it is like VIP?”

“Yes, it is. Except CIP is business.”

Apparently, the growing entrepreneur and executive class wanted a status–at least at the airport–equivalent to that of government officials. This development leads to a string of observations about status in Turkey and America.

(more…)

Playing on the Pajamas Media page today: Corn & Miniter Show: Episode 3

You can view the past episodes:
Corn & Miniter Show: Episode 1
Corn & Miniter Show: Episode 2

Even a pre-coffee eye could spot it.

I held up my croissant, selected from a lavish breakfast buffet here at the Ankara Hilton hotel, and showed it to a German reporter that I know.

“Notice anything strange about this croissant?”

He studied it for a beat. “No…”

It is straight, not curved. Not arched. Not a crescent in any way.

His eyes seemed to say “so…”

But I continued anyway. “And here we are eating breakfast in Ankara, part of the old Ottoman empire.”

Now he said it. “So?”

(more…)

When Iraq’s vice president came to Turkey’s capital yesterday to plead with the Turks not to invade northern Iraq to kill Kurdish terrorists, he spoke to the press in code.

The PKK is a Kurdish terrorist group that has killed some 30,000 Turks (including more than 50 diplomats) since 1990. The PKK wants to carve a Kurdish state out of the dry reaches of eastern Turkey.

Their private war has nothing to do with the Iraq war, but the Turkish response could fatally undermine American efforts there. The Turks invaded northern Iraq in Saddam’s time, driving some 50 kilometers in to Iraq to overrun safe havens and kill terrorists, Egemen Bagis, an adviser to the Turkish Prime Minister told me today at lunch in Ankara.

They could do it again. Turkish troop movements to the border region have been increasing in the past few weeks.

Bagis, who is also a Member of Parliament from Istanbul, insisted that the troop movements are just part of regular rotation, but later said that Turkey always surges troops in the Spring, when the weather allows the PKK to come down through the mountain passes and murder civilians. If you’re counting, those are two different answers.

If the Turks do cross into democratic Iraq, U.S. relations with Turkey could hit a new low. And Iraq’s president, Jalal Talabani, is a Kurd. His son Qubad, who I have smoked cigars with, represents the northern Kurdish region in Washington, D.C. So Iraq would feel compelled to respond. In the worse case scenario, that could send Iraq to war with the second-largest army in NATO. By treaty and presence, America would be on both sides.

Which brings us to the visit of Iraq’s vice president Tariq al-Hashemi this past Tuesday– and his coded message.

(more…)

I hope you have had as much fun watching the Corn and Miniter Show as I have had co-hosting it.

Some 300,000 have downloaded it so far–which is probably more downloads than MSNBC has viewers.

Please keep leaving comments. I love the feedback. As for the blue window-paned suit that I wore in the first edition, all I can say is that there is a really good story behind it. Someday I will tell you.

As you know, I am doing some on-the-ground reporting in Turkey and plan to head out to Iraq shortly thereafter. I believe in old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting; you know, going on the scene and talking to the decision makers. You will see the stories soon over on the main Pajamas Media site.

Which brings me to Wiki-Booking, which is like wiki-pedia, except completely different. I will not be available to co-host the Corn and Miniter Show for the next few weeks and want your ideas for a fill-in host. So we are going for Wiki-booking.

First, here are the search criteria: It must be someone who does his own reporting and has his own sources, not some pundit who just reads the papers. It must be someone knows his own mind but can also see the appeal of the other side’s ideas. And forget about nominating any blow-hards who just want to score partisan points; we want light, not heat. Finally, the ideal candidate should be able to laugh at himself and good-naturedly rib the other guy. No, he doesn’t need a window-pane suit…

Okay, the Wiki-Booking race is on. Post your entries in the comment section of this post. The winner gets a free dinner with me and maybe David Corn.

It is past midnight here in Turkey’s cold, concrete capital and the lounge singer at the Ankara Hilton is finishing “Feelings.”

Killing it really.

Feel-wings! Feel-wings!

The mustachioed Turk getting his shoes shined on bronze-tinted deck sees me smiling and smiles back.

I can’t tell if he knows that I would rather be water-boarded than hear this tortured 1970s standard or if he thinks I am enjoying a sublime moment and am just seconds away to becoming another western friend of his country.

Luckily, he doesn’t head over to tell me which.

I am here to do some original reporting for Pajamas Media.

Keep checking the main page over at Pajamas for a few scoops I have in the works: a Turkish raid on al Qaeda training camps discovered just north of the border with Iraq. I spoke to the foreign policy advisor to the Turkish Prime Minister over lunch today and have a meeting with the head of Turkey’s counter-terrorism department (at the Foreign office) tomorrow morning in Van, a border town trapped between a lifeless lake and the Iranian border. This time tomorrow, I will able to post a pretty interesting story about Turkey’s counter-al Qaeda efforts… if all of the reporting pans out.

I will also have video story uploaded soon about the opening of a 10-century Armenian church in Van–and what it means to the wider world. You gonna want to watch it.

As for the rest, all I can say that there will be some surprises from the front. Stay tuned.

to my dear friend Tony Snow.

The Defense Department has launched a web site devoted to “Heroes in the War on Terror.”

It is about time.

For years, the military had a series of excuses: We don’t want to highlight one man, every member of every unit is a hero, no one cares about heroes anymore and so on.
The only thing they didn’t say is that “a hero is nothing but a sandwhich.”

Now our heroes are getting their due.

You can search for heroes by home state and will find some genuinely inspiring stories. You will also find a few clunkers, such the enlisted woman who helped the Iraqis with their computer system getting a bronze star.

Is a web site enough? No, it is a beginning. Our men and women deserve far more. They should kept alive in public memory by naming streets, parks and buildings after them and they should be held up as examples to young.

A hero is an embodiment of our highest ideals. If we want these ideals to live on and we want more heroes, we need to celebrate the heroes we have. It is our obligation to them. DoD’s web site is a first step.

Alexandra Pelosi, a documentary filmmaker and daughter of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in Capitol File magazine: “Did you ever think Al Gore could get an Academy Award for giving a PowerPoint presentation?”