Iraq

I could never trust the MSM on Iraq. They had a political agenda to begin with and continue with it. So I would read the blogs from soldiers in Iraq like Mudville and I would read independent journalist Michael Yon ,who was there. And nothing could beat the blog from an Iraqi himself, Iraq The Model. There were lots of good news that wasn't being reported. But these guys have not always been pollyanna. They weren't cheerleaders for anyone's political agenda. When there was bad news, they report it too, which is why I trust them.

So when these same people that I respect point out the deep problems there, I listen. I don't pretend I understand military strategy. I vote for people I trust to do the best job and I let them do it. But there is no doubt that we have big problems in Iraq in how to handle the fighting factions. No war has ever been perfect and this one is far from it.

After reading many articles from people I respect regarding Iraq they all seem to be saying that it is time to start talking about leaving. No one they spoke to or interviewed including higher ups in the military think we should withdraw now. But creating the understanding that we have gone as far as we can go and will not be staying forever will go a long way in convincing the people in the Middle East that we don't have our sights set on "owning" Iraq.

We should able to hand over the security of Iraq to a capable Iraqi army soon. I know that we cannot just leave. That would be a disaster. And I understand why Bush cannot say that we will leave by such and such a date. But I do hope that in the halls of the Pentagon there is a date that is secret but known to them on how and when we leave for the most part.

I have said many times that we ignored this part of the world for far too long and throwing Saddam out and establishing a struggling Democracy was the absolute right thing to do and history will prove this to be the case I believe. It's a bloody birth made bloodier by the monsters who don't care who they blow up on their way to a fake paradise. It is my belief that we deal with them now or our grandchildren will deal with them later and possibly on our own soil.

But Iraq is alot like having a teenager, one must let them go to make their own mistakes. You are always there as backup, but they must learn on their own. So it will be eventually with Iraq.

There is this one story that is silly and small in the big picture, but it said more to me about the hope for the future of Iraq than anything else. Mudville reports about the Iraqis having a fake TV News program that is much like the John Daily Show here:

BAGHDAD - The year is 2017, according to the opening credits of the fake news broadcast, and the last man alive in Iraq, whose name is Saaed, is sitting at a desk, working as a television news anchor. He sports an Afro, star-shaped sunglasses, and a button-down shirt.

The Americans are still here, the government is still bumbling, and the anchor wants his viewers to drink their tea slowly so they don't burn themselves. "You cannot go to the hospital during the curfew," he warns.

For Iraqis, the remark is outrageously funny, if only because it's so close to being true.
After a summer of the worst violence since U.S. troops toppled Saddam Hussein's regime, tens of thousands of Iraqis are finding solace and amusement in a new television show whose dark humor makes it an Iraqi version of Jon Stewart's The Daily Show.

The nightly send-up of a newscast includes weather, sports and business segments and features six characters, all played by the same actor.

With seemingly no sacred cows, it provides insight into how Iraqis see their country's problems, lampooning the Americans, the Iraqi government, the militias, and the head of Iraq's state-owned media company.<...>The show is being produced to run only during Ramadan, the month when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, and it airs just as Baghdadis are breaking their fast. It is so popular that many people report being glued to the screen, eating their first meal of the day in small bites between laughs.

Imagine! Just a few years ago one would be tortured and killed for speaking out against the government at all! And now they have a TV show that makes fun of the government and everything else, including us.

You see what this is, don't you??? It's the spirit of freedom. The best of what it means to be free. The fact that we can laugh at ourselves and our government and not fear punishment. That is what they are experiencing for the first time!

It gives me hope. With Islamic fanatic monsters in their midst, they still choose to laugh.

All is not lost my friends. The tunnel is dark and difficult to travel, but the pinpoint of light is there, flickering, waiting for those in Iraq to continue to struggle toward it.

Let's pray they make it.