There is Good News on Iraq, Too

If you, like Ward, have been wondering if we'll ever hear any good news out of Iraq, maybe it is time to listen to one of the few reportes still embedded with a unit in Iraq: Oliver North

"Despite what's being written, we -- by 'we' I mean the Iraqis and the Coalition -- are getting ahead of the terrorist's game. The Iraqi people want to have an election -- and we're going to help make that happen. Terrorists like Zarqawi and Muqtada al Sadr are doing everything in their power to stop it. They can't.

"After you were out here in July and August, we helped the Iraqis clean up Najaf. It was an al Sadr stronghold. His goons dragged Iraqi citizens off the streets, put them in front of his 'Courts' -- then beheaded and shot men, women -- even children -- for infractions of 'Islamic law.' That isn't happening any more. The people of Najaf helped us fight back. They are now free to walk their streets, shops and businesses have reopened, and al Sadr's thugs are either dead or looking for a new line of work."

One of the soldiers in the article makes the point that while we are used to a 24 hour news cycle, with new information broken within minutes of it happening, it simply isnn't that way in Iraq. For instance, the CIA report that came out recently predicting a "worst case scenario" was actually written 3 months ago, before Al-Sadr caved to pressure from other clerics. CNN moves at the speed of light. The CIA moves at the speed of beaurocracy.