Fucking New York Times

The headline in the NY Times yesterday:

HUGE PROTEST IN IRAQ DEMANDS US WITHDRAW

BAGHDAD, April 9 — Tens of thousands of protesters loyal to Moktada al-Sadr, the Shiite cleric, took to the streets of the holy city of Najaf on Monday in an extraordinarily disciplined rally to demand an end to the American military presence in Iraq, burning American flags and chanting “Death to America!”

Huge! HUGE we tell you!

Not at all mentioning that the attendance is way, way below what Al-Sadr was shooting for. Al-Sadr, who was trying to get upward of a million, managed (from his hiding place in Iran) to get 5,000 to 7,000 people according to MNF-I officials. Say they got over 10,000. Say they got over 20,000 (which would be a big stretch) this would still be a failure. But of course, the NYT headline does not read:

US PROTESTS DRAW FEW IN IRAQ

Right near the top in the 2nd paragraph, the NY Times indulges in outright obfuscation:

Residents said that the angry, boisterous demonstration was the largest in Najaf, the heart of Shiite religious power, since the American-led invasion in 2003.

Which is flat out, not true. There have been far larger protests against the Coalition including the demonstrations/riots in April 2004 when Muqtada Al-Sadr was much stronger. The NY Times knows this. But note how the reportage is formulated "Residents said..."

Therefore, they're just doing direct reporting on what residents say - even though they know it's not the truth!

Gateway Pundit has a similar take:

It's refreshing to see the world's finest military win a battle on the media front!

Of all of the 1,800 plus articles published yesterday on the Al Sadr Anti-US-occupation protest in Najaf, Iraq, not one mentioned that the turnout was way below what was expected and hoped for by the media and the pro-Iranian Muqtada al-Sadr.

Both the Associated Press and New York Times reported that "tens of thousands" attended the protest.

From the pictures that were released by the MSM of the protest it was impossible to tell exactly how many showed up to stomp on and burn the US flag.

The Weekly Standard Blog was the first to report that turnout was far below what was expected:

The demonstration in Najaf has been muted. While Middle East Online claimed "hundreds of thousands of Shiites burned and trampled on US flags," the reality is the protest was far smaller than Sadr would have liked. Reuters puts the protest size in the thousands, and during a press round table briefing today, Rear Admiral Mark Fox noted that the Coalition is closely monitoring the protest, and put the number of demonstrators between 5,000 and 7,000.

Omar in Baghdad also has the same message:

Speaking of the Sadrists’ pitiful demonstrations, Sadr’s aides were hoping to gather a million marchers for yesterday but all they could manage were less than ten thousand, even when they bussed people from Baghdad and Basra.

Fucking New York Times!