Washington Post on the ball? And other things

The good old Washington Post - it's at least trying to cover stories that are important yet embarrassing to the government but which are generally ignored or downplayed elsewhere (although it is a tad tardy at times). So we have the piece on the four Britons and a Australian who have finally been released from Guantanamo Bay (the WP alone put that on the front page according to Slate). The Post notes:

On Tuesday, the British government portrayed the planned releases as a political triumph for Blair, who is often criticized for having extracted few tangible benefits from Bush, a highly unpopular figure in Britain. "Had it not been for our alliance" with the United States, [Foreign Secretary Jack] Straw told the House of Commons, the men would not be going free.

And that only took, what, two-plus years? There's the "special relationship" in action. What else? Oh yes, like the page A01 report "Search for Banned Arms In Iraq Ended Last Month" - where the Post tells us that the Iraq Survey Group had folded up its effort to find Weapons of Mass Destruction "shortly before Christmas." Before Christmas? And we find out about this on January 12? Slate notes "No, you didn't miss the White House announcement" - because there was no announcement! I guess it'd be too much to expect the press to go out and find real news in the absence of a helpful tip from Scott McClellen. Well, they got it eventually - I wonder how the Post tripped over that nugget of information. I mean, this is big stuff, or was, anyway? The Iraq Survey Group, that used to be important ... WMDs, rationale for going to war, David Kay ... we do remember that, don't we?

Meanwhile, the BBC is reporting - quite prominently - that a Human Rights Watch report has concluded that "Violations of human rights by the US are undermining international law and eroding its role on the world stage." Let's see if the Washington Post and all the other "liberal" elite press gives this the coverage it deserves. I hope so: Although they're pretty tough on the US, Human Rights Watch also has a go at the Sudanese oppression of Darfur, which the United States has at least been trying to do something about (though even then, HRW is critical of the West's decision to hand off the problem to the African Union). Is anyone paying attention any more ... ?