What You Don't Know Only Hurts Us

Well, looks like we're finally about to get some good news out of Iraq. If by good news you mean no news.

Iraq's interior ministry has decided to bar news photographers and camera operators from the scenes of bomb attacks, operations director Brigadier General Abdel Karim Khalaf said. "When Cheney was here he said put an end to the violence, so this is what we came up with."

His announcement was the latest in a series of attempts to curtail press coverage of the ongoing conflict. "There are many reasons for this prohibition," Khalaf said. "But the biggest one is I like to say 'prohibition.'"

"We do not want evidence to be disturbed before the arrival of detectives, and, as you know, taking photographs of the scene changes it in very subtle way. It's a quantum mechanics thing. The ministry must respect human rights and does not want to expose victims until we can tell them what they saw, and we don't want to give terrorists information that they achieved their goals. Of course the explosion, fire and smoke are probably clues, but we're working on that."

"This decision does not imply a curtailment of press freedom, it is a measure followed all over the world in just about any dictatorship you can find."

In other news, White House Press Secretary Tony Snowjob said that in the next few weeks, president Bush would present "photographic proof" that progress was being made on the ground in Iraq.