This New York Times reported this week that the the major news networks have stopped sending full-time correspondents to Iraq. That says something important and rather devastating about both the state of the media and the American attention span.

Or maybe the war ended and they forgot to tell us.

From the story:

Joseph Angotti, a former vice president of NBC News, said he could not recall any other time when all three major broadcast networks lacked correspondents in an active war zone that involved United States forces.

Except, of course, in Afghanistan, where about 30,000 Americans are stationed, and where until recently no American television network, broadcast or cable, maintained a full-time bureau….

Resources now are being shifted to Afghanistan, previously known as “the forgotten war,” according to the story. Iraq has become a tamer, less exciting place to be.

Stories from Iraq that are strongly visual — as when an Iraqi journalist tossed two shoes at President Bush this month — are still covered by the networks, though often with footage from freelance crews and video agencies.

“But these other stories — ones that require knowledge of Iraq, like the political struggles that are going on — are going uncovered,” Mr. Angotti said.

Mike Boettcher, a Baghdad correspondent for NBC News from 2005 to 2007, said nightly news segments and embed assignments with military units occurred less frequently as the war continued.

“Americans like their wars movie length and with a happy ending,” Mr. Boettcher said. “If the war drags on and there is no happy ending, Americans start to squirm in their seats. In the case of television news, they began changing the channel when a story from Iraq appeared.”