"To say there has been no political progress in Iraq in 2007 is patently absurd, completely wrong and dangerously dismissive of the significant changes and improvements happening all across Iraq. Whether or not Americans are seeing it on the nightly news or reading it in their local papers, Iraqis are actively writing their children’s history."

That is a very bold statement

It also begs the questions;
Is it too little, too late?
Can the momentum be sustained?
Is it going to spread to the borders?
How much would it take to derail this improvement?

I have complete faith Yon reports honestly what he sees and hears, but I keep in mind he is an admitted unabashed supporter of the US military.

Yes he is and so am I, shouldn't we all be? They offer their lives for the freedoms we enjoy everyday.
It does beg those questions and many more, but there has been more positive news "leaking" out and the "mainstream media" seems to be more inclined to report some of it as well. That, in itself, is in stark contrast to 6 or 12 months ago.

What so mainstream media has just been deliberately ignoring the good news stories out of iraq? They've been there all along and the media is just so bent on bad news they didn't tell us?

Exactly - maybe not on your side of the pond, but over here thats MY impression.

Over the last 4 years there hasn't been a significant amount of good news to ignore. Iraq has been a tough and dangerous place to get the news.

The military has made it tougher because they feel the media burned them in Vietnam. They've lost sight of the fact that the winning the "hearts & minds" is just as important as battlefield victories in the middle east... maybe more so. The enemy has used the press, locally and globally, superbly.

Not only the enemy but the mainstream media and anti-government supporters with any number of agenda's who have used not only the press but the internet to the same end.

Its well known with military types that the media mis- and under- represents and informs the public consistently about what happens and is happening in iraq.

Did that sentence make sense?

not entirely....have another go, I'd really like to know what you meant:P

The commanders smart enough to not take that position and work with, educate if you will, the press, do more good for the effort than those that leave the reporters to work with rumors. Reporters have a job to do and will do it with or without help from the military, so if you want to even have a chance of getting your side out, you have to make sure your side is available.

btw, welcome to the Cellar, minnmirman. :D

Spot the mishandlings of the apostrophe on this page. One apostrophe too many, one too few. One from a guy known to be on my side, one not necessarily.

/s/Eagle-Eye Fleagle

thanks for the welcome

yeah, as i havent been there I really cant back up first hand what i said before. Luckily we all have second hands, and I have plenty of second hand accounts from most of those in my platoon (some going on their fourth deployment) all the way up to the Battalion Commander constantly telling us in an angry tone that they feel like they got gypped (jipped, gyped?) by our own media while they were in Iraq. They feel as if many of the good things that they were doing there were not being shown to our own public.

Of course this goes into the much greater debate on our supposedly 'objective' system of journalism and sensationalism as a ratings boost in media today...

First instinct on "gypped" was the best.

He's not alone in that impression. I've no doubt it's very general in the "red states." The bias seems brought on by the silly distinction that the President is a Republican, and ninety percent or more of the newsies are Democrats. They've forgotten that they are Americans, and citizens of a major member of the Barnettian Old Core nations thereby. They end up forgetting the nation's interest.

Not because he's a Republican, because he's an idiot who's completely botched this war for 4 years.... as well as the one in Afghanistan.