...Talking about the positive, heartwarming stories:
I wonder how many people can actually remember seeing television-pictures of thousands of Iranians, holding a silent vigil in the streets of Teheran after 911 ? They were *not* shouting "death to America", they were *not* burning Flags or puppets...
They were standing there holding up placards saying "this is not Islam" and "The Prophet forbids this"- in English. That's what I call "positive".
It was shown on Irish television back then. Perhaps the idea is not wrong at all: perhaps one needs to look for the positive sides a little harder...

You know, if you REALLY want to know what's going on in Iraq (outside the Green Zone), it might be well to listen to those that have been there. You have two sources that are not difficult to get general information from. One are the blogs run by Iraqis themselves (http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com is a good starting place, as is http://messopotamian.blogspot.com). Or, perish the thought, you might talk to some of our soldiers returning from there. From both (which I've gotten input from the beginning), you'll get both a picture of the tragedy and the promise that is Iraq. Hate Bush all you want, but if you really care about the people over there, the hope HAS to win out. And, at this point, the hope clearly will die with a precipitous withdrawal.

"The few clinics that have been built... "? You have to be kidding. The rebuilding effort has been vast and extensive. This sounds like someone has not done her research. The question is whether this lack is intentional.

I wonder if those Iraqis being taught English will be the ones to infiltrate our country ten years from now...they will thank Bob for the language skills when they hit the detonator

"One are the blogs run by Iraqis themselves (http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com is a good starting place, as is http://messopotamian.blogspot.com"

There are dozens of Iraqi blogs. Isn't it strange that you pick the 2 most pro-American as the starting point to look at Iraqi blogs ? How about the many other blogs, which vary from fiercely anti-American to skeptical of America ? SOme of those bloggers may not have been sent funding or been treated to a US trip by White House and conservative people (they way ITM has), but they have their own perspectives as well. But I forget, you don't want to hear any perpsective that indicates that iraq might not be a smashing success.

Besides, even the Messpotamian (who at least strikes me as honest) said recently that he cannot visit his house any more. And many other Iraqi bloggers (healing Iraq, treasure of baghdad) have had to leave the country because of violence. I think that says a lot.

WE SHOULD PULL OUT,THIS IS A WAR OF MY RELIGION IS BETTER THAN YOURS,ITS BEEN GOING ON FOR ABOUT 2006 YEARS. WHY IS IT MUSLIMS GIVE A LOT OF CRIT,BUT DEAL OUT BEHEADINGS AND ROAD SIDE BOMBS IF THEY RECEIVE ANY.THE QURAN STATES GOD DOES NOT LOVE AGGRESSORS 2:190,BUT BY THE WAY JESUS IS COMING ,AND WILL FORFILL THE BIBLE AND THE QURAN,BY TAKEN CARE OF THE DEVIL.

I have never read this news blog before. I have been reading Iraqi blogs for years now and if you had followed them overtime you would see how desperate and dangerous the country has become with shootings, bombings and house searches in their very neighborhoods. All now know of friends, family and co-workers who have been killed. Many have now left the country and the few behind are trying to get out. Your readers here are in optimistic, patriotic, la la land. Link to Iraqi blogs instead of jumping on poor Jane here. sympatico

It doesn't matter how much you rebuild when it's being torn down again shortly after by bombings. It doesn't matter how many buildings you build if they can't have electricity!

Some people want so desperately to believe that this is a war we are winning that they will seize on any scrap of information as proof that 'progress' is being made. Any information provided to the contrary is dismissed as biased. Fox News pushes this line of crap.
Hopefully Jim Baker will knock some sense into "W" when his report comes out.

We need to learn how to distinguish "hope" from "denial."

its not about winning a war,its about giving stability to the world.Somebody's got to do it and since the US is the only superpower and has all the economic and political interests.it might and should be doing what it is doing.

America is freedom and democracy, is it it's President fault to live by such ideals,even in a hostile place?

Do the American people realize we are being set up by Bush to do the same in Iran? Keep listening to the media

I think it's interesting that people would like to replace Bob's hopeful predictions with Jane's professional journalism. The difference is huge- on one side we have a reporter judging what the story is, based on what she sees and hears. On the other side we have a military contractor wanting the story to be what he perceives, based on hope.

We can either trust Jane, representing a free and accurate press, which has served us well for hundreds of years, or we can put faith in Bob, representing stenography, which has not served us well for a little over a decade. The choice is ours.

As we see above, Rethugs are not only in lockstep with Bush in "staying the course", but also in denying basic facts in Iraq visible to any unbiased observer such as the complete chaos, violence, and despair that is clear from most blogs, stories, pictures, and correspondents other tha FOGS news liars-for hire.

The truth is "Bob" is lying through his teeth, trying to probably keep a good gig going.

How much ya makin', Bob, teaching Iraqis on behalf of your contractor? I heard an average annual salary for a trained professional in Iraq was in the $2-300,000 a year range with bonuses and insurances. All billed eventually to the taxpayers under the Republican "COST-PLUS" model we are still using to pay Halliburton, CACI, and other Iraqi-mess pigs at the trough. Compare that with a teacher's $30K starting salary in most major cities, and you see why "Bob" might be just a teensy bit protective of the job he's doing.

You Rethugs make me sick, absolutely nauseous. All those who feel like Iraq is still a war worth fighting shoud simply be rounded up and sent there.

Baghdad Bob: "As I was calling out the names one student was absent but it was explained to me that he had been kidnapped. OK that was a negative . . ."

LOL. You really couldn't make something like that up.

Why does the American leadership (political and military) refuse to take any responsibility for things that have obviously gone wrong? It would seem to me that you need to do that to have any case for touting things that have gone right in Iraq.

Central to the above - why no serious postwar planning (and even rejection of the concept of planning)? Why L. Paul Bremer instead of Jay Garner? Why (often) young, inexperienced republican political appointees instead of exprienced, nationally and internationally recognized experts?

So a guy who never leaves a military base talks to Iraqis who are willing to set foot on an American military base - most likely because they are working for the Americans in some capacity - and because they are able to enjoy a few moments of relative safety in their "hermetically-sealed" environment, we are supposed to ignore the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Iraqi civilians already killed in this disastrous misadventure?

BTW, exactly what proof was offered of "Bob's" actual existence? Considering the amount of money the US is pumping into Iraq for PR, I don't think we should just take "him" at face value, unfortunately...

BOB IS IN DANGER, HE NEEDS TO GET OUT. THIS IS A TYPICAL IRAQI WAY OF WARNING. BOB IS USING LOOSE LIPS AROUND SOMEONE WHO'S REPORTING ABOUT HIM, AND HIS FRIEND IS WARNING HIM. PLEASE LET HIM KNOW HE NEEDS TO GET OUT FAST!

All this talk about the Iraqi people "gladly" risking life and limb to go to school or to market seems to me to be really patronizing. They don't do it gladly, they don't do it to be heroic. They do it because they have no choice. The only choice for many is between risking their lives by staying at home and risking their lives by going out. Many of them cannot afford, or do not wish to flee as refugees.

Also, turn on the local news any night of the week and you'll find that the first five stories are bad news-- murder, rape, fires, car accidents, etc.. Bad news makes it to the front of the line and the front pages because people crave bad news. As Ms. Arraf has said, if 80 people were being murdered every day in an American city, 10 of them decapitated, if judges and academics were being shot in the head and kidnapped, these might be the lead stories on our news as well.

Still, I think the images we see in our papers and on our TVs are fairly tame compared to what is being reported overseas and in the region. I think that, if there's a problem with the coverage, it's that there's too little specificity. Many, though not all, of us don't know what it's like to live in constant fear of death or injury by random violence. And many of us haven't got the slightest idea of what a war zone is really like. Maybe if we did we'd be more careful about holding our government accountable for going to war in the first place.

I read the comments with disbelief. Perhaps because I am not an American I fail to see the 'good news' in Bob's story. He finds it amazing that his students talk about a reunion in seven years time. This means that
a. life is unpredictable in Iraq and
b. in the face of this his students are, nevertheless, incredibly optimistic
Whats good about this ?
What is truly amazing is that Americans want to hear good news from a part of the world where literally thousands of people are dying as a consequence of the forces let loose by their invasion.

Wow. The best news that Bob can come up with is that his student wasn't permanently kidnapped and absent?

Maybe I'm a cynic or an optimist, but I think that the Iraqis have to have hope, else they'd curl up and die. Evidence of hope isn't a glowing confirmation of all of our actions over there, it is merely what people do.

It's kinda sad how many people have jumped on the details of Bob's story and claimed that it either *PROVED* Jane's bias or refuted any of her points.

Only one other comment pointed out the glaring issue. Bob is teaching on a military base. Does he go out after school and walk through the streets? I doubt it. I'm sure there are lots of people living in the Green zone that don't think things are so bad either. Jane's point of view is that of a female foreign (to Iraq) journalist moving about amount the Iraqis.
Finally, Bob's working for a contractor, so he's likely making a lot more than the soldiers are for a job that not nearly as dangerous. If anyone should be eating crow, it's still Bob, not Jane.

I am stunned at reading some of the responses from readers. They write about humble pie, eating crow, and reporting both sides, vast and extensive rebuilding, how much sacrifice is needed for a better Iraq. Where are they getting their news and information? I guess the facts dont matter if you only believe what you want to believe. Here is what I have read in Wash. Post, NYT and this site, liberal that I am. Bob teaches in a fortified zone. One student got kidnapped. His story reinforces the reporter's point. If reporters report about a school, that school is attacked the next day. The violence now is self-perpetuating. In last 3 days Sunni militants shot and killed Shias as they were driving to work through Sunni area, Shias respond by killing scores of Sunnis, Sunnis respond by carbombing Shia neigborhood. The vast rebuilding effort is under investigation for massive substandard work. I have seen pictures where supporting columns are not even attached to above floor or roof and a gap exists .Oil production is half what is was under Saddam. Just under a million people have been displaced, including several hundred thousand to neighboring countries. Many are doctors and engineers. Clerics can no longer control their militias, there are factions within factions (Our military just tried to catch a very militant ex-Al-Sadr militia leader and lost a tank in the battle. The militant leader behind scores of Sunni killings was not caught). The Bagdad morgue is under Shia control, they can report any numbers they want on daily deaths(Sunnis have taken to preparing and burying their own dead rather than risk death themselves at morgue). Sunnis have been murdered in hospital bedsin Shia controlled hospitals. Our military can not stop the bloodshed despite taking brigades from other areas and sending them to Bagdad. Military is in the process of changing its tactics, as one Colonel put it the more firepower we use the more the insurgency grows. Over half believe its ok to attack our troops. Last month was the second bloodiest month for our troops. Basically we are waiting for this plague of violence to wear itself out, we can not affect change. Experts have no solutions, now talk about "least worst outcome". Meaning in the future they hope Iraqi trained terrorists wont be able to attack us. Vietnam humiliated us, Iraq is a key stategic area in geopolitics and Bush's bungling of war will have lasting strategic consequences. I find it galling that the only sacrifices for this war have been the soldiers and their families. Please spare me with stay the course, the course hasnt worked in 3 years. Several generals, recently a British general, have stated that our soldier's presence contributes to the violence. Please spare me with liberals blame America first, report only bad news, and dont support the troops. They are lies that only reinforce your world veiw at a time when it should be challenged. One of the responses to fear is becoming more entrenched in your beliefs. Hence the message from the right is to be afraid of "Islamofascism". One of the hardest things to do is fight an unpopular war in a democracy. The right realizes this and twists reality. Blames the "liberal press". We need a rare leader to come out and say democracy is not possible, a good outcome is not possible, and we need to keep a small foot print in Iraq for the next ten years to keep openly armed formations marching on Bagdad from the Sunni heartland. I am a realist and willing to support any reasonable plan. I can not take seriously anyone that continues to think that there is news in Iraq that can change the dynamic in any significant way. Godbless those samaritans that do daily good deeds and yes teach in the green zone. But their are forces completely out of our control and its time to face that reality.

Let us know when Bob takes a road trip off the military base he is on without a military escort. While he is out there, maybe he can takes some pictures of the school we are building, and the clinics we are building. Our government, who wouldn't miss a photo op for anything in the world, does not seem to be furnishing them. Maybe Bob can since things are so rosy for him.

And remember, since Bob is working for a contractor he is making at least 6 figures a year. Teachers here, teaching Americans, don't make anything near what he is making.

I don't understand. What is the good news that Bob and the posters saying "see, see" are getting at?

That Iraqis keep struggling - is that the good news that isn't being reported? Bc I think that if you start your good news off with students kidnapped and the fact that American contractors are sitting on a fortified base waiting for Iraqis who have survived death squads and kidnap to show up, even while their demolished hospitals stay demolished, the English lessons take place on a fortified base bc schools have either not been rebuilt or the fundamentalism that we ushered in has resulted in the death of teachers and the de facto barring of female children from not just the schools but from driving, holding many jobs, leaving home without hijab or burqah etc - what was the good news again?

Hundreds of Iraqis murdered every day and thousands held in prison facitilities after sweeps and historic shrines blown up, antiquities destroyed, malnutrition on the increase, hospitals and morgues too dangerous to seek treatment or collect bodies - this is all ok bc we are offering English lessons on a fortified base to the Iraqis who survive death squads and kidnappings?

I don't get the good news part.

I do get that the Iraqis are resourceful and tough and I think that comes through in the reports I've seen. Especially the ones where resourceful tough Iraqi translators and journalists are rounded up and detained and abused without charge and killed. I guess if they would just take their cues by only writing about Bob's English lessons it would all be better.