Cursor's Media Patrol - 12/02/05

'How (Not) to Withdraw from Iraq' Tom Engelhardt finds news coverage of the public debate over "pullout, withdrawal, withdrawals, draw-down" shifting into "full-frontal anonymity mode," and heralds "the return of Vietnamization."

"Iraqi and American officials in Iraq say the single most important fact about the insurgency is that it consists not of a few groups but of dozens, possibly as many as 100," reports the New York Times. And a new study says the insurgency "remains as robust as ever and could grow a good deal stronger."

Finder's Fee "Bring in 10 people and you can earn $20,000," says an Army National Guard official, touting a new scheme to address the falloff in recruiting. Plus: "Maybe you miss the adventure ..."

As 'oil company executives retool responses on energy task force roles,' a Harris poll finds that 90 percent of Americans feel that big companies have too much influence on government, up from 80 percent in 2003.

The Nation joins the more than 200 Web sites that have pledged to publish the "Al-Jazeera Memo" should it leak out.