Media Lapdogs and Short Attention Spans.

Remember when everybody in the media got excited last week that the US would close Abu Ghraib prison, putting this sorry chapter in history behind them?

Turns out, not so much.

The United States always has planned to transfer authority for all detention facilities in Iraq to the Iraqis, but announcements regarding the imminent closure at the Abu Ghraib prison are premature, defense officials said today.
News reports that the U.S. military intends to close Abu Ghraib within the next few months and to transfer its prisoners to other jails are inaccurate, officials said.

There's no specific timetable for that transfer or for closure of the Baghdad prison, they said. Decisions regarding Abu Ghraib and other detention facilities in Iraq will be based largely on two factors: the readiness of Iraq's security forces to assume control of them and infrastructure improvements at the facilities.

Remember when everybody in the media got excited about how Republicans (JUST Republicans, Democrats had nothing to do with it) killed the Dubai Ports World deal, striking a major blow against their own President and showing that national security was of paramount importance?

Turns out, not so much.

The Dubai-owned company that promised to surrender its U.S. port operations has no immediate plans to sell its U.S. subsidiary's interests at Miami's seaport, a senior executive wrote Monday in a private e-mail to business associates.

Even if DP World were to sell its Miami operations to quell the congressional furor over an Arab-owned company managing major U.S. ports, "that would probably take a while," wrote Robert Scavone, a vice president for DP World's U.S. subsidiary.

The e-mail, obtained by The Associated Press, added to questions raised since DP World's announcement last week that it will divest U.S. port operations it acquired when it bought London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co.

DP World has said those operations are worth roughly $700 million.

If these were the only two examples of this phenomenon ever happening that would be one thing. But time and time again over the last 5 years, the media, blogs, the Congress, everyone grabs hold of a story, seeing it through to its conclusion... only to turn away at the last minute while business as usual took the fore. The current Administration actually depends on this. Everyone can stamp their little feet and make a fuss and "deliver a setback," but in the end, these guys always get what they want. And nobody really calls them on it. Another example of this was the torture deal with John McCain, completely subverted by the "signing statement" the President penned that claimed he could opt out of the law whenever he felt like it.

The Administration relies on the short attention span of the public. Whether it's distracting with a big "Terra alert!" announcement or waiting until the cacophony of protest dies down to implement whatever they sought in the first place, they are extremely shrewd at preying upon the limitations of the American public and particularly the American media. This is why we have a public that is so uninformed. When you combine official secrecy with these tactics, the chemical compound is toxic to democracy.

P.S. This probably deserves its own post, but PLEASE PLEASE listen to Habeas Schmabeas" by This American Life. I was absolutely transfixed hearing it this weekend. They talked to actual detainees from Guantanamo who have since been released because they represented no threat to the United States. Many were picked up because Pakistanis turned them in for a healthy ransom, based on no evidence at all. One of the guys was the editor of the Pashto version of "The Onion." That was his crime.

We have to reward the few media outlets that have a longer attention span, that don't report back the White House press release, that do take the time to enlighten the public. This is so very crucial to our future. Please go listen to it.