About Face!

A report from the Associated Press? Check.
Unnamed and uncorroborated sources? Check.
Grisly accounts of sectarian violence? Check.

The guys at Redstate won't believe a word of it, right?

Not so fast.

It seems all is forgiven now that the fevers of Jamilgate have waned. Redstate writer California Yankee takes approving notice of an AP report on the seizure of Iranians at a not-yet-a-consulate building in the Kurdish city of Irbil.

"BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- U.S.-led forces detained five Iranians Thursday after a raid on a government office flying an Iranian flag, Iraqi officials and witnesses said, as President Bush vowed to isolate Iran and Syria as part of a new strategy to quell violence in Iraq.

The multinational forces entered the building overnight, detained the Iranians and confiscated computers and documents, two senior local Kurdish officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information."

Strangely, Mr. Yankee links to the AP without so much as a perfunctory snipe or sneer. No "Associated 'With the Terrorists' Press". No "al-AP". Not even a blind-pig-and-acorn jape.

Of course, this AP story props up one of Redstate's favored tales: that Iran is to blame for everything gone wrong in Iraq. Mr. Yankee links to the AP account approvingly because it shows that "George Bush meant it" when he promised to disrupt the networks giving aid to Iraqi sectarian militias.

Mr. Yankee carefully steps around the inconvenient fact that the militias being aided by Iran are the same ones propping up the Maliki government.

He also looks the other way when, as part of the very same story, the AP reports this:

"On Thursday, police reported at least 45 people were killed or found dead from bombings and shootings, including a 10-year-old struck in a mortar attack in the northern city of Mosul and 37 tortured bodies found in Baghdad.

Gunmen ambushed a minivan carrying Oil Ministry employees in a predominantly Shiite area of Baghdad, kidnapping six of the passengers and the driver after separating people according to their IDs, police said."

Suddenly, Mr. Yankee finds the AP and it's unnamed, unofficial police sources credible again. I wonder if the boys at Redstate made up for their recent spat with AP by sending flowers or just by promising "Baby, you know I didn't mean it."