Reporting on the “End” of Combat in Iraq

It’s hard to believe that after seven years of direct U.S. military involvement in Iraq, the loss of millions of lives, the spending of billions of dollars, that it is barely news. I would have thought that it would be right under the masthead in the nation’s premier media outlets, but pictured below are today’s front pages of the on-line versions of the Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, and Time magazine. The end of combat is not mentioned.

These images were taken between 0600 and 0615 Central time in Chicago.

I remember September 11, 2001, the visit of George Tenet to the Oval Office, the buildup to this war, the speech of Colin Powel before the United Nations, the countless images of the dead and maimed and displaced. I still think that if my CIA director walked into my oval office and said something like (as I understand what Mr. Tenet said) “Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction in Iraq” that I would not have made a different decision than President Bush. I hope history shows that some good comes from this decision, for all involved, but as far as I can see right now it has been mostly tragic.

I honestly don’t know what to make of this reporting, but something is missing this morning…