WaPo Cherry-Picks Its Maliki News

"Maliki Suggests U.S. Troop Timetable: Iraqi Premier's Remarks Reflect Political Plight" -- Today's Washington Post front page.

"Al-Maliki: Iraq Defeated Terrorism." -- Not today's Washington Post front page. (Foxnews.com.)

The Fox site used that headline for an AP dispatch on Sunday:

Iraq's prime minister said yesterday that the government has defeated terrorism in the country, a sign of growing confidence after recent crackdowns against Sunni extremists and Shiite militias.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki began the crackdowns to extend the authority of the government over areas in Baghdad and elsewhere that have largely been under the control of armed groups since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

"They were intending to besiege Baghdad and control it," al-Maliki said. "But thanks to the will of the tribes, security forces, army and all Iraqis, we defeated them."

....Bolstered by this confidence, al-Maliki plans to visit the United Arab Emirates today and also Italy and Germany later in the month — apparently hoping that improved security at home will pay dividends in greater international support.

Iraq is also enjoying a surge in oil revenue driven by record crude prices and the highest production levels since Saddam's ouster. The government expects to make a total of $70 billion from oil in 2008 if prices stay high.

The Post front page, by Sudarsan Raghavan and Karen DeYoung, ignored those remarks Monday and played up the bad-for-Bush story on Tuesday:

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has for the first time suggested establishing a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, a step that the Bush administration has long opposed.

....The Bush administration has said that a timetable would play into the hands of enemy forces who would lie low until U.S. troops were gone. Instead, top military and administration officials have said that withdrawal decisions must be based on conditions on the ground. Most of the additional "surge" forces sent to Iraq last year are due to pull out by the end of this month, leaving about 140,000 U.S. troops.

Indeed, Sadiq al-Rikabi, a top political adviser to Maliki, said any timetable would be conditioned on the ability of Iraq's security forces to secure the country, something the government has long said. "In that case, American forces should return home," Rikabi said, adding that there were no discussions so far of specific dates for a U.S. withdrawal.

If one were feeling argumentative, one could argue that the explanation that the White House saw no change in position and there were no discussions of specific withdrawal dates isn't much of a story -- or at the very least, it's no more of a story than al-Maliki proclaiming terrorism has been defeated.