The Associated Press is in full-court press defeatist mode tonight, with a ludicrous over-the-top article about the Photographic icons of Iraq war.

Of course, they don’t mention any of the faked, staged, and/or set-up-by-terrorists photographs—many of which were staged by Associated Press terrorist stringers.

And they don’t mention any of the wonderful, inspiring photographs taken by Michael Yon.

To the Associated Press, it’s all about misery. And Abu Ghraib. And coffins. Lots and lots of coffins.

And funerals, going on and on.

So what will be the icons of Iraq?

Perhaps the tight portrait of a helmeted Marine, his face coated with grime and creased with fatigue, a cigarette dangling from his lips. James Blake Miller came to be known as the “Marlboro Man”; the public followed his story home, to hard times and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Perhaps the Abu Ghraib pictures — snapshots with a chilling immediacy. Or President Bush speaking on an aircraft carrier, a banner with the premature boast “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” stretched behind him. Or Saddam Hussein, bleary and bearded after his stay in a spider hole.

Or any of a number of visions of death or battle or grief.

And then there are the coffins. In the early days of the war, authorities forbade photographs of transports loaded with flag-draped coffins; a contractor was even fired for leaking one such picture.

But the conflict continued and photos of caskets have become commonplace, as the funerals go on and on.