GIs, Shiite militiamen in Najaf trade fire

AP: Iraqis Commit Suicide

In another lesson on press bias, if one were needed, we have this introductory sentence to an AP article on today's attacks:

U.S. forces in Najaf came under their most intense attack yet by Shiite militiamen in a clash Monday that may have killed up to 20 Iraqis.

You got that, right? Shi'ite militiamen led an intense attack that killed twenty of themselves.

I really miss the days of the old Army war correspondants, who would have written, "They attacked us heavily, but we killed about twenty of them." Failing that, could we at least have "In spite of their most intense effort yet to engage US forces directly, the Shi'ite militias were handily repulsed, with up to twenty fruitlessly throwing their lives away in a battle against US soldiers."