Greg Mitchell: "Did The Press Also Drop The Ball In Probing The [Haditha] Killings"?...

By now, it's clear that the U.S. military engaged in some kind of cover-up of an apparent massacre in Haditha. Following the November killings it took months for an official investigation to begin. But even as reporters explore the story now, with impressive and detailed probes that often end up on the front page, the question must be asked: Did the press also drop the ball in probing the killings? Or was the usual roadblock - the danger of spending a lot of time in hellish Anbar province - just too difficult to overcome?

In any case, have editors and reporters back home, for three years now, shown too little interest in possible--some would say, likely--American atrocities in the heat of horrible pressures in Iraq?