Associated Press: A Despicable News Organization

Here is the latest evidence that the Associated Press is a despicable "news" organization (headline an first paragraph):

US Deaths in Iraq Approach 4,00.  (Headline)

"A roadside bomb killed three American soldiers north of Baghdad on Saturday, pushing the U.S. death toll in the five-year conflict to nearly 4,000."  (editor's note:  Note that the AP is so desperate to bootstrap the "landmark" number into this story that the actual number is not even put in the lead--a gross violation of the journalistic "standards" that the AP consistently ignores).

The Associated Press is simply beyond despicable. 

Look at the above story.  If you have any intellectual integriy (the despicalbe AP does not), you will realize what is wrong with it. 

Notice the CONTDOWN to 4,000 U.S. deaths, as if the despicable AP is ROOTING for that number (it is). 

It is NOT "news" that U.S. deaths in Iraq are "approaching 4,000".  That is POLITICAL AGENDA.  Note the headline uses "approaching 4,000", and then the first paragraph of the story uses "nearly 4,000".  This is PROPAGANDA--not "news".  The "news" waits for a later paragraph, where we learn the number is 3,998 (reporting of which number does not bother me,, although it ignores that deaths are way down since the troop surge). 

Think of the hysterical AP story when deaths actually reach 4,000 (not, of course, objectively, materially different from 3,991--or other "non-round" numbers).   Too many Americans have died in Iraq, but the despicable AP is incapable of reporting it objectively. 

P.S.  I am perfectly aware that it is too much to expect that the mainstream media would ignore a "milestone" in Iraq such as American death no. 4,000--even though the "milestone" has no more significant than, say, 3,700 as to the overall merit, or lack of merit, of the Iraq War.  However, this hysterical need to make MULTIPLE HEADLINES out of tthe "milestone", by hying its "approach", is truly disgraceful.

The above point is further illustrated by an AOL comment under the above referenced stroy, and my response:

"Does 4,000 include the American casulties in Afganistan?"

Actually, this is another indication of how despicable the Associated Press is (in trying ANY method of generating these propaganda headlines).

The Associated Press has generated headlines on these "milestone" numbers in Iraq in the past by COMBINING the number of deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan (NO justification to do so, unless you argue that Iraq and Afghanistan are part of the same operation--exactly the opposite of the AP/leftist sometime propaganda of Afghanistan as the "good war", and Iraq as the "bad war"--sometime because the AP/leftists often treat Afghanistan as a "bad war" on the same anti-American reasoning of Rverend Wright that the USA is reponsible for all terrorism in the world).

The AP "combined" deaths for the SAME reason that they were too anxious to wait for the actual "milestone" death 4,000 to generate this headline:  For the despicable AP this is all about pushing a political agenda.