Zinni On Iraq

Gen. Anthony Zinni, the former CENTCOM commander, had this to say on Meet The Press yesterday with regard to the recent right-wing accusation the the media are not reporting the good things that happen in Iraq:

RUSSERT: Do you believe the American media is distorting the news from Iraq or presenting an accurate picture?

ZINNI: Well, I think the American media is being made a scapegoat for what’s going on out there. At last count, I think something like 80 journalists have been killed in Iraq. It’s hard to get outside the Green Zone and not risk your life or risk kidnapping at a minimum to get the story. And it’s hard to blame the media for no good stories when the security situation is such that they can’t even go out and get the good stories without risking their lives. And you have to remember that it’s hard to dwell on the good things when the bad things are so overwhelmingly traumatic and catastrophic. So I think that’s an unfair blame that’s put on the media. I think that there probably are good things at the lower level, but are they balanced out by the bad things that are happening? All the good things happening out there will mean nothing if this unity government doesn’t come together.

Zinni also stated that Rumsfeld should resign.

By the way, "[n]ine U.S. service members were killed Sunday and three others are missing after separate incidents in Anbar province in Iraq, the U.S. military said Monday."