I’m always on the lookout for positive stories about Iraq and our troops there. Little things, Iraqis moving back home, schools re-opening etc. It’s because I think that the success of Iraq will not be done in one massive step but rather in lots of little steps and even partial steps. Think of the war in Iraq as America trying to build a gigantic puzzle picture of democracy in the middle east. All the little positive articles are puzzle pieces put together to form a larger picture. You don’t see it on the tv news due to not only the anti-Bush/republican bias in the news but also because it doesn’t meet the criteria of “if it bleeds it leads”. You won’t see them on the front page of your local newspapers, oh the papers might have it but it’s really buried, because once again good news doesn’t capture the publics attention.

Here is an example:

Iraqis: life is getting better

That’s not a headline you will see in the NYT or on CNN. Why? Because it doesn’t portray to the reader any angst, pain, or suffering so it’s presumed that the readers wouldn’t be interested. You might find it buried deep in the paper somewhere, but not alot of people are reading every page/article in the paper. So they miss things in the article like this:

The survey of more than 5,000 Iraqis found the majority optimistic despite their suffering in sectarian violence since the American-led invasion four years ago this week.

See that little tidbit doesn’t jive well with what the MSM wants you to believe. It almost makes you want to believe that Bush did the right thing doesn’t it? What’s funny is that if another poll was done in Iraq among 1000 people that said life sucked it would be screaming across the top of every newspaper and would be the lead story in alot of newscasts. Here’s something else that is in that article.

Only 27% think there is a civil war in Iraq, compared with 61% who do not, according to the survey carried out last month.

Wow, so the people with boots on the ground and a real life interest/knowledge of what’s going on over there think there is no civil war. Yet if you watched the news and read the paper you’d think there was a full blown civil war there.
Another interesting tidbit:

By a majority of two to one, Iraqis believe military operations now under way will disarm all militias.

Wow, so they are on board with the surge..now only if the Democrats were on board like the Iraqis themselves!

When people try to deny a bias in the news I have to chuckle, just a few words changed or left out make such a huge difference. This little article could easily make someone rethink their viewpoints on what is going on over in Iraq. It’s positive, contradicts the MSM, and comes directly from the Iraqi people. It’s truly a night and day difference from what we see on TV, isn’t it.