Demagogue

In recent years, I have written a post or two about Newsweek's Lally Weymouth -- specifically, the fact that her Q-and-A style interviews never seem to elicit much substance or understanding. More evidence can be seen in today's Washington Post.

The newspaper published excerpts of Weymouth's interview with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. The interview included this exchange:

Weymouth: Reportedly the U.S. government is losing faith in Prime Minister [Nouri al-]Maliki.

Talabani: President Bush assured us that he will support the Maliki government. We assured him that all Iraqi political parties support Maliki. He has done many important things for Iraq. He has ordered all of the militias to stop their activities.

Weymouth: But they haven't stopped.

Talabani: They are not operating as before.

Weymouth: When should the U.S. troops leave? ....

Either a Post editor did a terrible job of editing the interview for excerpts, or Weymouth isn't familiar with the word "probe."

When the Iraqi president simply states that the militias "are not operating as before," his comment deserves follow-up. What exactly does he mean? How are the militias operating differently?

Weymouth (or the Post) leaves readers hanging.