Here is a story from Newsweek's Baghdad Bureau chief..

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8101422/site/newsweek/

Does this make anyone feel hopeful? I don't think we should pull out either but this news sure is depressing..

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"Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet."

The NY Times ran 50 HEADLINE news stories on Abu Ghraib.

Just what do you expect to hear from news sources (like Newsweek) with a clear political agenda to undermine everything the Bush administration does? You don't expect to read any of the numerous success stories, do you?

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"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival."
Winston Churchill

The road to success in Iraq is the road to independence and self sufficiency. The sooner security is handled by Iraqi's the better. (including raising a large Iraqi army again, an then using it to protect infrastructure)

This guy has been in Iraq a long time. How many times have you gone through the Green Zone checkpoint? I'm sure you are way more informed about the "numerous success stories" than he is.

Please enlighten us with the overall statistics about how much money the oil industry is generating now and how the electricity and water are reliable now... (Oh that's right, they aren't)

He himself says he was all for the war and has lived it first hand for two years, but you can't even discuss what he says because you can so easily write it all off as "liberal bias". If you are going to have nothing to say about a topic, why do you even bother posting?

Remember......this IS "Newsweek." It would be interesting to look up some old articles by Rod Norland from early 2003 and see if he is telling the truth....when he says he was all for it in the beginning.

He places a lot of "blame" on Abu Gharib. But what about his part in that....the media's part in that? They didn't have to blow it all out of proportion and place in on the front page everyday for months on end. They didn't have to make it sound like it was U.S. policy instead of what it was....a handful of bored guards who thought what they did was funny. They didn't have to downplay the fact that they were all prosecuted and brought to justice for what they did. I personally think the anti-war libs in the media did it for a reason: they WANTED to turn people off to the war in Iraq. They could never do it any other way.....so they used and abused Abu Gharib.

As far as not capturing anyone of any importance. His article was obviously written before the recent capture of Al Zarqawi's top aides....and several other terrorists inside Iraq.

Our president never told us this would be easy. In fact, he said before we started it would be difficult, take time, and would require sacrifices. These recent offensives by both the U.S. and the Iraqi's are important steps toward the goal of our being able to leave at some point. We all hope and pray it's sooner rather than later.

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

Pardon me if I take his words with a grain of salt.
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=129190

from March 2004
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=129333

from November 2003
http://www.electricityforum.com/news...iraqpower.html
from August 2003http://www.iraqcoalition.org/ES/water.html
Newsy little link.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/997061/posts
from August 2003
http://www.acepilots.com/mt/archives/000048.html
from Oct 2003

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Order without liberty and liberty without order are equally destructive. - Theodore Roosevelt

Are you better off with Saddam Hussien or without him? Anything worth
fighting for takes sacrifices, especially freedom. I don't think think many Iraqi's mind temporarily trading the comfort of air conditioning and water for the hope of a real democracy.
The problem with Newsweek and NY Times and probably most Americans,
myself included, is that we are spoiled by our comforts, (and I count that as a blessing). We can't imagine a car without air conditioning or even drinking tap water. Our priorities are not Iraqi priorities.

Rod Nordland has supposedly been there for 2 whole years and he can't think of one single solitary good thing to say? No, he can't. In fact, if you look at the links I posted, you will realize that he wants you to believe that everything is worse than it was even 2 years ago.

And JP5, I looked for articles by Rod Nordland. I can't find anything positive he's ever said about the war (or our military). He is truly part of the "blame America first" crowd - sounds like a charter member. No doubt he'll be up for a Pulitzer.

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Order without liberty and liberty without order are equally destructive. - Theodore Roosevelt

I did some research as well. And it was just as I thought......the guy lied in this article. How can reporters like him just "lie?" Do they think people are so dumb they won't even look at his past reporting?

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

It is easy to get depressed about anything if you only focus on the negative.

No one said we were perfect, or that our choices are always the correct ones. But they are more often correct than everyone else's choices.

Criticism is necessary and good, but not to the exculsion of praise for what we do right. And that is exactly what most liberals (and the media) tend to do. MSNBC is usually middle of the road...CNN has been positively blatent about it.

Actually...we've already done that. Lets take a look at the results shall we?

I actually posted an extended response about this in Schwarzwald's thread recently - http://www.politicalforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=10168 - , but he has been reluctant to answer me. I just cant imagine why.

Keep in mind these results are in spite of aggressive anti-US bias in the region from local media.

Oh...and how do I know this bias is affecting their options? Why, because they told us:

This seems (*)(*)(*)(*)ing at first glance, but look at this follow up question:

Only 10% actually experienced this stuff (less than 10%...since that is only 10% of the people that said "badly" in the previous question). 50% of their opinions are what they were told by someone else. 40% have simply seen something...which may or may not have actually been what they assumed it was.

Are there ANY liberals on this site willing to address this data? It kind of flies in the face of everything they have been trying to tell us about how the Iraqi masses feel...

All I hear are chirping crickets.