Observations

Iraq From the Inside

I have written before of the pitiful job the American media—indeed, the international media—have done in reporting accurately what is going on in Iraq. Trite phrases such as, “if it bleeds, it leads,” are offered up to explain the abysmal job American newspapers and networks have done in reporting the goings-on in Iraq, as if the media is hypnotized and unable to report anything other than spilled blood and death. Having been indoctrinated by the media’s steady diet of negativity from Iraq, otherwise sensible people don’t believe that good things are happening there. After all, how much good can be going on when they almost never hear any of it. But our journalists—those supposed purveyors of truth, accuracy, fairness and balance—are concealing much good news and many reasons if not to be hopeful, then not to despair.

The following excerpt is one commentator’s take on Iraq from the inside, embedded with U.S. Army troops at Forward Operating Base Justice in northern Baghdad. It is just one perspective, and of course it doesn’t reflect the entirety of the situation in Iraq, but it certainly is worth a few minutes of your time, unless you are a closed-minded ideologue satisfied with the biased view from the media. The writer is Michelle Malkin:

What I Saw in Iraq

I came to Iraq a darkening pessimist about the war, due in large part to my doubts about the compatibility of Islam and Western-style democracy, but also as a result of the steady, sensational diet of "grim milestone" and "daily IED count" media coverage that aids the insurgency.

I left Iraq with unexpected hope and resolve.

The everyday bravery and consummate professionalism of the troops I embedded with have strengthened my faith in the U.S. military. These soldiers are well aware of the history, culture and sectarian strife that have wracked the Muslim world for more than a millennium. "They love death," one gunner muttered as we heard explosions in the distance while parked in al Adil. Nevertheless, these troops are willing to put their lives on the line to bring security to Iraq, one neighborhood at a time.