Centerfield

The Brookings Institution IRAQ INDEX (click on the PDF) shows a more mixed picture.
http://www.brookings.edu/iraqindex

One of the more interesting graph's are on page 15 "ATTACKS ON IRAQI OIL AND GAS PIPELINES, INSTALLATIONS & PERSONNEL"

Also see:

Iraq casualties org
http://icasualties.org/oif/

Or in chart form:
http://icasualties.org/oif_a/Lunaville.htm

You seem upset that an article entitled "Good News" highlights good news, Bob. Did you expect it to be a summation of bad news?

Just trying to add a little balance tully.
After all, what could be better than a fair and balanced presentation?

Ah, so you helpfully supplied the Lunaville blog, a far-left anti-war blog offshoot which contains nothing BUT the absolute worst news out of Iraq and Afghanistan, with nary an acknowledgement that anything good has ever happened in either place. And this constitutes your conception of balance, I see. How illuminative of you. Good to know where you stand, anyway.

You really should learn to embed links, you know, so people needn't cut and paste. Most won't bother.

Tully,

How do you embed links in a comment. I can do it when posting, but I don't know how to do it on a comment.

Marc

I've added tips to the template (below) on how to place HTML in comments.

In your mailbox, Marc.

Bingo! Thanks, Rick. I couldn't figure out how to post it in a comment, for the obvious reasons....

It's tricky to display how HTML is to be written, because the software transforms it into links. The trick is to use encoded HTML entities. This is computer-geek stuff.

Tully:

(right wing Pollyanna) – (far-left anti-war) = balance

Definition:balance

1. [n] a scale for weighing; depends on pull of gravity
2. [n] an equivalent counterbalancing weight

http://www.hyperdictionary.com

As for my personnel views, welllllll.....
They are more complicated that simply adopting a rigid left/right ideological world view. Maybe if you play nice I will give you my blog address someday.

In the fortnight that saw the massive assault by American and Iraqi troops on Fallujah, the flare-up of violence elsewhere in the Sunni Triangle and the murder of Margaret Hassan by her kidnappers, not to mention the controversy over a Marine shooting dead a wounded insurgent, it's hard to believe that anything positive might have also been happening in Iraq.

This is the opening paragraph of what you're calling "right-wing Pollyanna," although the article itself is not in the least partisan or Pollyannaish, merely an accurate and self-avowed recounting of the positive side of the news that isn't reaching us from the networks, complete to the up-front avowal of its own approach, including full acknowledgement of the bad news freely available elsewhere. Nothing either right-wing or Pollyannaish about it. Any perception of same is between your ears, not in the article.

Not right wing Pollyanna?

“A tyrant is gone, and Iraqis now have their country back. But it's only a start of the journey to a better tomorrow. “

Tully, Tully, Tully, you would be a much happier person if just admitted that your world view also filters how you see the world.

I'm sure that Bob and Tully are having great fun with each, but please bear in mind how such "repartee" might be viewed by first-time readers. :)

Now. It's been my personal observation from reading and watching TV that most good news of any kind slips under the radar because good news doesn't sell. So it's nice when someone takes the time to share that good news.

Well I'm certainly having fun.
Aren't you having fun Tully?

ROFLMAO, Bob. Thanks, but my only truly fixed worldview is that of an experienced cynic, and I'm still quite happy. I was however totally unaware that an optimistic sentence or two rendered an entire multi-thousand word factual article both "right-wing" and "foolishly or blindly optimistic." Nor was I aware that one had to be "right-wing" to think Saddam was a tyrant, or that his downfall was somehow a Good Thing. Does that mean that "left-wing" folks think he's a saint, and should be reinstated to power? I haven't heard that from any of the left-wingers I hang with. Maybe it's a regional view.

Heather, you're welcome, and that's exactly why I link & post to Chrenkoff's regular WSJ pieces. The only bias the networks and major media need to pass on reporting the good news isn't partisan, but commercial. It's simply not a big ratings draw. I'm thankful the WSJ prints it.

If I'm not amused I don't bother, Bob. Honestly.

I wouldn't know how the left views it, but a more cynical re-fraising of the quote would be:

“A puppet government is in residence, the USA is calling the shots, a guerrilla movement is in full bloom and civil war lurks just around the corner.”

See! One reality two world views and only time will show which is right.
And we haven't even gotten the views of the other zillion people on the planet.

As for publishing the anecdotal heart warming stories from a war zone: It a war zone!

The only purpose is to give people a warm fuzzy and erase the picture of the little boy with his arm blow off. (Yes! I'm very cynical)

Your not supposed to feel good about a war. That way you don't start others. If you want to see what happen look at the trend lines in the links I supplied. Don't like my links? Find some you feel are neutral. Attacks go down, we do good. Attacks go up, we do bad. Nice, clean and simple.

I'm glad Tully links the good stuff going on in Iraq.

God knows we wouldn't hear about it in the mainstream media.

Heather has the right of it......bad news sells papers ads etc etc etc.

Tully:
I'm out of here. You will have to find a new playmate for the next seven days. Got to catch a plane to D.C. in the morning, and they move really fast so that's not easy. If they nuke it while I'm there only think good thoughts about my poor carbonized soul.

Happy Thanksgiving!

LOL. Catch it during the turns, Bob, they move slower then. Have fun on vacation. If anyone nukes the place while you're there I'll do my best to see that the perpetrators pay for it. When you get back we can discuss the nature of nihilism.

Have a safe trip, Bob.

I've already written about reading Tully's Good News posts. I think they give another view of this war.

I'm a bit put off by the impression I get that we Americans should feel good about this war because we got rid of a tyrant. We've paid dearly in blood, treasure, and credibility. I don't see how we're any safer from terrorists, either.

I'd like the Iraqis, the Arab press, and the Arab world to start telling each other and every one else the good we've done.

Again, thank you for the WSJ post, Tully.

I'm a bit put off by the impression I get that we Americans should feel good about this war because we got rid of a tyrant.

But should we fell bad because we got rid fo a tyrant? Wars should be last resorts, and glorying in war for war's sake is as ugly as it gets. But the point Chrenkoff and I are trying to make (badly, perhaps) is that while war is ugly, there are positive aspects, and that it's important to note the good as well as the bad. Good things can and do come out of the maelstrom. If all we ever look at is the bad news, if we ignore the signs of positive outcome and impact, we're being utterly nihilistic. No point in even getting out of bed in the morning, unless it's to just nip off and shoot ourselves in despair.

Regardless of how anyone felt about us going into Iraq, we are there now. We are obligated to do the best we can. And it's a hell of a lot tougher for our men and women over there doing that if back home all the news we get is doom and gloom, unrelenting pessisism that focuses on only side of events while totally omitting the other. Pessimism from Monday morning quarter-backing civilian REMF's that don't have the whole picture, because the MSM isn't bringing it to them, is not constructive.

Nope, things aren't perfect. I've never seen a perfect war, or a perfect country in conflict, and I've been to a few. Yep, the Iraqis have a long struggle ahead of them. Yep, they might fail in the long run. But right now they have a chance to try, and it is up to us to help them. That becomes a much harder task if all we ever hear about is strife, difficulty, and failure, when that's not the whole picture by a long shot. Ask one of our soldiers serving in Iraq if the press coverage is helpful to their morale, and represents everything they're facing or have accomplished. Not al-Jazeera, but our own media. I have. I've asked many, especially many of the men and women of the 1st Infantry and the 1st Cavalry. I have friends in both, and I see a much different situation through their eyes than I see on the news.

They will tell you without exception that the American MSM both enrages and depresses them by concentrating on nothing but the very worst, while totally ignoring the bulk of the work they're doing to rebuild Iraq, and the multitude of succeses they've had.

And that's why I post the Good News. Not to piss off anti-war ideologues, or to argue with doom & gloomers, but to show that the entire story is not being told, and that what you see on the nightly news is sorely lacking in anything resembling perspective. To show that regardless of what you think about us being in Iraq, we can be proud of our men and women serving there, and their successes.

Tully, you made some generalizations in your post that you began with a quote from me. None of my comments reflect an anti-war, REMF, gloom & doom bent. I've written very clearly that I want the military, diplomatic, and democratization effort in Iraq to be successful because it is in our nation's best interest.

I don't feel good or bad about removing that tyrant. I feel that we didn't go there because he's a bad man. He's been a bad man for a long time. There are better ways to get rid of this guy. The guy is gone and we're still there.

You know we differ on going into Iraq. I think you also know I support the military effort and the positive news coming out of the region. I accept the fact that we're there and I want us to succeed. Look at my post from your last good news thread.

I know that you and Bob have had some heated discussions over this and other topics. It's not my intent to become a part of those discussions.

The tyrant is gone, but, I still feel that we aren't safe at home. That's my position. I will feel very good when terrorists fear us enough to know what we will do to them when they dare attack us on our own soil.

Also, you happen to be unloading on another "friend" from the 1st Cav, if that's how you've come to know me.

CORRECTION: It wasn't the good news thread. It was some thread about the Fallujah offensive where I made a point of noting your good news posts.

I am sorry if that was misinterpreted as personal, Jamie, as I'm not trying to throw aspersions at you and didn't mean that YOU were doom & glooming. Any such misundertanding would, of course, be my fault for being less than clear. You have my sincere apologies for any misunderstanding in that regard. I was less than clear in using your words as a jumping-off point. I hope what followed was understandable. My point in posting the Chrenkoff links is to provide some additional perspective that's all too hard to come by nowadays.

Which unit, if I might inquire?

I was officially assigned to division headquarters. But, my job required me to spend a lot of time with different line units.