There is a theory readers are only interested in good news.

Even as statues of Saddam Hussein were tumbling in Iraq, Fidel Castro was demonstrating to Cubans that their dictator was still very much in charge. Castro capped...

WASHINGTON - Among the corrosive lies a nation at war tells itself is that the glory - the lofty goals announced beforehand, the victories, the liberation of the oppressed - belongs to the country as a whole; but the failure - the accidents, the uncounted civilian dead, the crimes and atrocities - is always exceptional. Noble goals flow naturally from a noble people; the occasional act of barbarity is always the work of individuals, unaccountable, confusing and indigestible to the national conscience.