Sunday, March 19, 2006

Match wits with the Oregonian's headline writer

For each of these three stories from Section 1 of today's paper, I'll give you the lead paragraphs, and you guess which headline appeared over the story.

1. Here's the lead:
Three years ago, as they ordered more than 150,000 U.S. troops to race toward Baghdad, Bush administration officials predicted that Iraq quickly would evolve into a prosperous, oil-fueled democracy.

Now, as the conflict enters its fourth year, the Bush administration faces a new challenge: the prospect of civil war in Iraq. And, in response, officials appear to be re-defining success downward again.
What was the headline?
A. Bush administration's war policy discredited
B. Whatever defines 'success' in Iraq, it's still elusive

2. Here's the lead:

As the Iraqi insurgency intensified in early 2004, an elite Special Operations unit converted one of Saddam Hussein's former military bases near Baghdad into a top-secret detention center. There, U.S. soldiers made one of the Iraqi government's torture chambers into their own interrogation cell. They named it the Black Room.

In the windowless room, some soldiers beat prisoners with rifle butts, yelled and spit in their faces and, in a nearby area, used detainees for target practice in a game of jailer paintball, according to documents and people interviewed by The New York Times. The Soldiers' intention was to extract information to help hunt down Iraq's most-wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, according to Defense Department personnel who served with the unit or were briefed on its operations.
What was the headline?
A. U.S. troops reuse Saddam's torture facilities for same purpose
B. Zeal of elite forces led to abuse of detainees

3. Here's the lead:
A top Senate Democrat said Sunday that President Bush should be held responsible if he violated the law in authorizing the domestic spy program.

But Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said it is too early to tell if either censure or impeachment of Bush would be appropriate.
What was the headline?
A. Durbin: Bush should be held responsible if he violated law
B. Durbin: Bush censuring may be premature

(Answers in the Comments section.)

2 comments:

Nothstine said...

Answers:

1. B
2. B
3. B

If you've ever wondered how Bush manages to retain even those 37 percent who still think he's doing a good job, now you know part of the answer:

The Big O's got his back.

bn

Nothstine said...

Postscript:

Of course, as AMERICABlog points out, the Oregonian is hardly the only newspaper playing catch-up with the American people on the third anniversary of the disastrous Bush war in Iraq.

bn