Lots of Good News from Iraq

It's just that so little of it seems to get much attention in the major media! Leave it to THE WEEKLY STANDARD's own Dean Barnett to capture the situation:

SO WHAT'S HAPPENED the past several months? One thing's for sure--you wouldn't know the story by reading the New York Times. Throughout Iraq, Iraqi citizens have decided that the fighting must end. They have tired of the sectarian strife that made swaths of their country a killing field. Having sampled something that could be called a civil war, they have collectively decided that they would rather live in a peaceful society. This means that each sect will have to tolerate the other sects' presence.

Throughout Iraq, ordinary citizens have tipped off American troops to the presence of not only Al Qaeda forces but members of their own sect bent on violence. They have also tipped off American troops to the presence of hundreds of IEDs, saving countless American lives. And they have done all of this knowing that they were risking death by doing so.

Although grassroots politics in America is of a less perilous sort, this too is a form of grassroots politics. Ordinary people have involved themselves with the fate of their nation, and made an enormous difference. While the Iraqi government remains mostly dysfunctional and enmeshed in squabbling, the Iraqi people have chosen the course their country will take.

Ace of Spades covers this ground as well. He notes that a Washington Post reporter explained recently that the encouraging numbers on casualties got short shrift from the Post because they do not yet constitute a trend. Now that the Congress's GAO has declared a trend, does it get prominent play in the Washington Post? Read Ace's post--I'm sure you'll be shocked by the answer.

And credit where it's due: a reporter for McClatchy's Raleigh News and Observer reports that "high blood pressure, bad backs, bum knees and other mundane health problems" are three and a half times more common than combat injuries in Iraq right now.

If the New York Times and Washington Post were McClatchy papers, I'm sure they'd be reporting the story as well.