WHY THEY HATE US: No, not the Islamists. Why do so many Americans, particularly soldiers, hate the media? Minnesota journalist Mark Yost has much to say in a column arguing that negative press reporting about Iraq ignores positive developments.

[W]here are the stories on nearly every VFW and American Legion hall that’s actively supporting the troops? What about their stories? Instead, we get Monday’s front-page story about a “secret“ memo about “emerging U.S. plans” to withdraw troops next year. Why isn’t the focus of the story the fact that 14 of 18 Iraqi provinces are stable and the four that aren’t are primarily home to the genocidal gang of thugs who terrorized that country for 30 years? And reporters wonder why they’re despised.