Have you ever heard of the “Friday dump?” That’s the practice of putting out embarrassing press releases on Friday, guaranteeing that a story is underreported. The Friday news broadcasts have the lowest viewership and Saturday newspapers have the lowest readership. If you want to bury a press release or an announcement, you do it on Friday.

But sometimes, the news you want to bury is so stupid and crazy that not even friday is safe enough. What you need for these sorts of stories is some sort of prescheduled news event that will suck up every square inch of oxygen in every newsroom in the nation. Something really big, like — say — the Superbowl or Christmas or primaries in two states that have been pushed as “do or die” for the Democratic candidates for weeks on end.

So it is with plans for Baghdad’s “Green Zone” — the heavily fortified area that’s the target of rocket and mortar attacks.