The Good News From Iraq

[Annie]

Chrenkoff: http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110006166

Intro:

The Case for Boredom
A roundup of the past two weeks' good news from Iraq.

BY ARTHUR CHRENKOFF
Monday, January 17, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST

Marine Cpl. Isaac D. Pacheco of northern Kentucky enlisted in the Marines on Sept. 12, 2001, and has been serving in Iraq at the Combined Press Information Center. Recently he wrote this for his local newspaper:

Something struck me as odd this fall as I watched a U.S. satellite news broadcast here in my Baghdad office. Something just didn't seem right. There was the usual tug-of-war between presidential candidates, a story about the Boston Red Sox and a blurb about another explosion in Iraq. The latter story showed the expected images of smoke and debris and people frantically running for cover--images that have become the accepted norm in the minds of many Americans thanks, or should I say no thanks, to the media.

There were no smiling soldiers, no mention of rebuilding efforts, no heartwarming stories about honor and sacrifice. I could swear I've seen that "stuff" here.

I've become somewhat callused to this kind of seesaw reporting because every day I work with the news agencies that manufacture it. However, many service members shake their heads in frustration each time they see their daily rebuilding efforts ignored by the media in favor of the more "sensational" car bomb and rocket attack stories. Not to say that tragedies don't happen--Iraq is a war zone--but there is so much more happening that gets overlooked if not ignored.​

It has been a mission of this fortnightly column, now in its 19th edition, to bring to readers' attention all that "gets overlooked if not ignored" in Iraq: the advancements of the political and civil society; the rebirth of freedom, economic growth and reconstruction progress; the generosity of foreigners and the positive role coalition troops play in rebuilding the country; and the usually unremarked-upon security successes.

Contrary to some critics, the intention has never been to whitewash the situation in Iraq or to downplay the negative. The violence, bloodshed, disappointments and frustrations are all there for everyone to see and read about in the "mainstream" media on a daily basis. Pointing out positive developments is not to deny the bad news, merely to provide a more complete picture. As voters faced with the defining foreign policy issue of the new millennium, we owe it to ourselves to be fully informed about the state of affairs in Iraq--and that means rebuilt hospitals as well as car bombs.

What follows is not the full picture of Iraq--merely that part of it you don't often see on the nightly news or the pages of newspapers.

 

[pegwinn]

Awesome Kathi, thx

 

[Annie]

Awesome Kathi, thx

You're welcome! He alternates between Good news from Iraq and Good news from Afghanistan. I'm glad the WSJ picked it up, yeah Taranto! While I check his blog, it's easy enough to miss if other posts come to the top.