When the AP headline says "Iraqi Leader Criticizes U.S.-Led Coalition", most readers will assume that Iraq's interim President, Ghazi al-Yawer has just gone off on an anti-American rant, right?

Well, if you read the article, you'd be wrong. All al-Yawer's said was that the "U.S.-led coalition was wrong to dismantle the Iraqi security forces after last year's invasion." That's it.

To me, it looks like most of al-Yawer's criticism is for the terrorist elements that want to disrupt the Jan. 30 elections and Iraq's neighbors, like Syria, who support them. al-Yawer said:

"There are so many people crossing the border from neighboring countries, specifically Iran," he said. "I think there are some elements of official Iran, I don't mean the whole government, (who) are playing a role in organizing and financing things in Iraq preparing for the elections."

He didn't say what activities he believed the Iranians were involved in.

Al-Yawer also said he believed elements of the Syrian security services were harboring insurgents. "(Syria) is a country that is run by security ... and definitely they cannot operate from Syria unless there is somebody who is condoning what they are doing," he said.

Not surprisingly, America's media is far more interested in rehashing whatever mistakes we may or may not have made months and years ago than they are in reporting the current news stories in Iraq (unless those stories harm the Bush administration-then they're all over them). And, when they don't get the quotes or news they want, they write misleading headlines and bury significant aspects of a story.

What's really amazing is that this behavior still surprises me.