"The attack coincided with a weekend in Baghdad that left more than 50 people killed in bombings. Gunmen stormed a bakery yesterday in the Shia district of Kadhimiya and snatched ten employees. Ten bodies, showing signs of torture, were also found in different parts of Baghdad overnight. The violence appeared to be a direct challenge to a new government security plan that put 50,000 Iraqi forces on the streets of the capital last week."
When Free Republic first started circa 1997/1998, one thing that it did very well was to expose the generally well-crafted and often slightly hidden propaganda in news articles. Over time this became less necessary as the quality of writing declined in the news media (the Left seems to be losing IQ points each year).
But the above propaganda harks back to the days when the Left did it well.
Kidnapping 10 civilians isn't a "direct" challenge; it's an indirect one at best, and pales in comparsion to the scope of fielding 50,000 troops on a whim.
That didn't stop the writer for the above article, though.
Over time this became less necessary as the quality of writing declined in the news media
Not only did the quality decline- but the propaganda has become excruciatingly obvious. Hardly a sentence I read is without a slant, a twist or an outright attempt to manipulate..