Oh, by the way, al-Qaida’s gone

Here’s more news you might not see in the nation’s newspapers:

Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil, commander of United States forces in Baghdad, told reporters that al-Qaida in Iraq, the umbrella terrorist group that’s been causing so many problems for our soldiers, no longer has any presence in Baghdad.

That’s right. Gone.

As are the news articles trumpeting this achievement.

The New York Times reported the milestone Wednesday night on its Web site and Thursday morning in its newspaper. On the Web site, it could be found on the world news page, down toward the bottom, at the lower left, in the 1-inch box that said “Middle East.”

Oh, and the New York Times called the group al-Qaida of Mesopotamia, just in case you had the mistaken impression that a group calling itsel al-Qaida of Iraq might actually be, you know, al-Qaida … in Iraq. Because they’re not … in Iraq. Remember?

The story was picked up by the UK’s Guardian newspaper, which copied the “Mesopotamia” lingo. (Isn’t Mesopotamia a nightclub?)

And Time’s Web site picked up the story, although its headline was actually “Bracing for an Al-Qaeda Comeback” and its lead said the general “sensed” that “insurgents” were “down but not out.” (That used to be called burying the lead.)

But other than those publications and a few talk shows and blogs, it pretty much didn’t happen. Thursday story budgets from AP, Knight-Ridder, New York Times, MediaNews and Cox News Service made no mention of the general’s announcement.

The wire services dutifully sent their stories about congressional Democrats trying to seize control of military operations, some features about how many people in Iraq are still displaced and the daily bodycount (they actually send this over the wires, every day), but not a mention of ol’ Gen. Fil.

Can you say “bias”?