European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 26, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday april 262007 stars and stripes Page 19 Iraq matters More than Gonzales future Michael Goodwin in boxing if s called the in de card in the circus its the sideshow in washing ton its the pummelling of Al Berto Gonzales that gonzo is a goner is now writ in Stone the Only remain ing question is How much longer the White House will let the sad sack at Torney Gener Al hang out there like a Pinata at a Childs birthday party with even republicans lining up to take whacks at him his punishment is cruel an unusual More important we and All of Washington Are wasting time and Energy on a distraction the one and Only Issue that matters is Iraq each Day brings fresh disasters and challenges whether the deadline for troop withdrawal is imposed by an opportunistic con Gress or by a disgusted Public the clock is ticking on our Mission every minute spent on anything else is a minute wasted gonzo included yet he survives barely be cause both democrats and republicans find him convenient for dems Hes a Safe target they can get outraged outraged that politics is involved in the hiring and firing of prosecutors their boiling Over this scandal in a Tea pot would have died out had Gonzales not Given them the rope to string him up he claimed to have had no role in the firings then clarified the denial to admit some role and last week pulled the i dont recall routine about a million times too Many his testimony before the sen ate judiciary committee was no table for How dems sat Back and let furious republicans Lead the charge no doubt gophers Are in a Rush to get to the moment when Gonzales decides to spend More time with his family so they wont have Bis Millstone dragging them Down each Day the Story continues is another Day closer to the 2008 elections yet dems despite their theatrical fury Are in no hurry to see gonzo go Only a handful of democrats have called for him to re sign a reflection that dems can keep ducking the final hard choices on Iraq As Long As they have Gonzales to punch around it makes them look As though there Busy with important work and being fair at the same time Iraq is far far trickier substantively and politically with their demand for deadlines and threats of defending the troops democrats already run the risk of reviving their lethal image of being ant military if s a danger that in creased last thursday when Senate majority Leader Harry Reid Nev opened his Yap to declare that this War is lost you dont have to be a Republican to wonder what the troops in the Field and their families think of that for his part president Bush continued support of Gonzales is usually ascribed to their Long Friendship but i suspect Bush is using his old buddy As a human shield the blows that Are falling on the a would fall on Bush if Gonzales were to quit or be fired dems would smell blood and keep pushing hoping to get Karl Rove next his fingerprints Are on some of the prosecutor firings so dems could score big with their left wingers by bagging the architect of Bush career o sure its nqtmn6 sir Bush also has a vested interest in delaying a showdown with con Gress Over Iraq his troop surge is not Complete and Hes not going to Call it off until he thinks it has had a Chance to Calm Baghdad All the firepower trained on Gonzales buys him time in Iraq even while it adds to the image of incompetence in the Whitehouse Only the clock shows mercy its March continues and by sum Mer or surely by fall the time for delay will be Over there will be Clear Progress in Iraq or there will be no Hope what we do then will be close to a consensus if not obvious if he survives until then that will be the moment when poor Al Berto Gonzales can go Home hav ing served Bis country above and beyond the Call of duty Michael Goodwin is a new York daily news columnist the difficulties of working with wire service copy David Mazzare iia except for those with scores if not hundreds of reporters newspapers Are filled mostly with wire service and syndicated articles that raises the question who is responsible for what appears in the newspaper certainly if an article or photo is produced by a staff member the newspaper is responsible but is the newspaper also responsible for All the Content it publishes from out Side sources judging from let ters and comments Ive seen Many read ers believe the ultimate responsibility lies with the newspaper whether or not you agree with that the fact is the acceptance of such responsibility is easier said than done if an editor knows an item provided by an outside source is inaccurate or even questionable he or she ought to edit it or scrap it but even with extensive checking the sheer volume of outside material and the pressure of deadlines make scrutiny of All such articles and photos impossible recently stars and stripes received a let Ter from an officer in Germany who said a published associated press photo from Iraq was Tion said the photo showed an unnamed american Soldier talking with an iraqi woman the letter writer said it was not a Soldier but a civilian translator wearing army combat uniform patterned cloth ing he noted among other things that the person did not have a name on the uni form or on the old style Kevlar helmet he wore and apparently was unarmed to the writer this want just a routine lapse to be noted and forgotten for one thing he blamed stars and stripes editors for failing to catch ass another he saw a wider Issue in the experience stating that other letter writers who opposed dressing contractors exactly like combatants might have a no several Points intrigued i asked stripes Able graphics editor Chris six to Check with the a its photo department insisted the person in the photo was a Soldier it provided a photo from the opposite Side that showed a unit insignia on the persons left sleeve but still no name on the uniform or helmet not satisfied i asked a High ranking army officer in the Pentagon to give us his opinion inconclusive said he after exam ining both photos Soine special army units dont Wear Nam bands and some con tractors sometimes sport unit insignias he said so who right the officer in Germany who questioned the identification or the a whose photographer took the picture and what is the role of stripes editors in this understandably to the editor who handled the photo and caption it was to con firm he or she had it right from the Materi Al presented and to get the Page to the printing press on time sometimes an error in a wire service caption or Story is easier to catch As when for instance it refers to a Marine As a Soldier thais happened when a wire service subsequently corrects a Story the editors Are Quick to get the correction into the paper and on the website definitely editors should Stop and ques Tion syndicated or wire service articles that May be accurate but Are skewed in some Way on april 2 stripes published a article from the a that said that in Iraq in March nearly twice As Many us servicemen Bers were killed than iraqi army Mem Bers who supposedly were to Lead the Way in combating violence in Baghdad As executive editor Robb Grindstaff noted in a subsequent note to staff the Arti Cle also said that the american fatalities Little changed from the Previ Ous two months when 80 and 83 respectively had died More to the Point the Arti Cle Well below the Lead paragraph said that while 44 iraqi army members had died in March 165 iraqi policemen had been killed in the same month the iraqi police act in paramilitary roles so the truth of the matter is that while 81 americans had died in the fight against insurgents in March 209 iraqis in uniform had died the a Story did not hold up to much scrutiny in Grindstaff s words but the Story want the Only problem unfortunately the Page one headline editor wrote us deaths nearly double that of iraqi forces in March although in us Par Lance forces refers to the army Navy air Force and marines in this usage it re fers to iraqi army and police that made the headline hugely inaccurate Grindstaff enjoined his charges to hold outside stories to the same standards used to edit staff material Good advice even if being proactive in this Way still makes it impossible to Check each and every syndicated or wire service article for balance and accuracy got a question or suggestion for the ombudsman on what appears or should appear in stars and stripes Send an email to of Mil or phone 2027610945 in the states prickly City by Scott Stantis s