This guy sounds an awful lot like "Baghdad Bob". Wasn't he released from custody last year?

I always knew that those talking like "Baghdad Bob" were tools of the administration. Never had a doubt, so this is no news to me. Admittedly people in America are as a rule not very news-savvy, but it should be obvious to the most casual of observers that Iraq is a bad situation rapidly getting worse, and that anyone trying to tell us that this is not so has ulterior motives. I am constantly amazed that anyone can believe that the media is exaggerating this. Are we all sheep? Can we not recognize outright lies when they are told to us over and over again? Wake up, America! Wake up and smell the IEDs! They say that people get the leaders that they deserve, but surely no-one deserves the level of incompetence that our leadership is demonstrating now.

It would be nice if we could see video other than where a bomb had just gone off. Where are the ordinary every day situations that must be going on in parts of Iraq?
I know that there is a war going on but there is also some parts of Iraq that are somewhat normal.We only see bombs.We have to assume that no one wants us to see anything good that the U.S. has done there.

When Bush's lies come home to roost this will haunt his family and personal life ntil he dies. This will be his mark on the world. A giant 4 year long lie that killed thousands and should have never happened. What a fool

American soldier: "People want to know the truth so they turn to Milblogs."

This is like saying people want to eat, so they go to the sewage treatment plant.

Thanks, Jane. I had dinner the other night with our next door neighbors and they brought up the old canard that the press isn't telling the "good stories, the one's where the soldiers are hugging the children..." etc. When my head stopped exploding from within, I explained how we were not sent over there to cuddle the children! We were sent over there under the lie of saving the free world as we know it from Condi's "Mushroom Cloud"! They then proceeded
to tell me the WMD were found. I knew then it was useless, so I ordered the tiramisu and asked about their grandkids. When people get their news solely from Faux and Rick Santorum, there is no hope.

I appreciate your service, and look forward to reading Bob's story. I love good fiction!

When Bush's lies come home to roost this will haunt his family and personal life ntil he dies. This will be his mark on the world. A giant 4 year long lie that killed thousands and should have never happened. What a fool

Jane, thanks for reminding us how terrible things are in that country these days. Americans ought to feel some compassion for these people whose lives are spent under unimaginable duress. I served in Iraq in the U.S. military, and while we often wished that the media would convey stories which brought to the public's attention the positive aspects of our experience in that country, I realize that any such bright spot only occurs in spite of, and in the midst of, tremendous despair and fearfulness.

Thanks for risking your life to bring us good information, being the lifeblood of democracy and all. And thanks for pushing back against the chuckleheads who insist that Baghdad is a regular Disneyland Middle East and if we only all clap louder, Tinkerbell will rise up, kick some serious jihadi tuchus and instate democracy with ponies for everyone. For too long, too many of your colleages have been unwilling to call lies and state the obvious for fear of compromising their objectivity. But the truth, however ugly, knows neither party nor ideology. After 3 years of this crap, most of us are catching on, despite the best efforts of all the Bobs of the world.

there were no shortage of people telling the administration that this would happen. the administration chose to ignore them. now the philosophy seems to be, "sure, this is a horrible situation, but we are there now. we MUST stay the course."

it is a similar rationale to what was used in vietnam. remember the "domino theory?"

the only logical course is to cut our losses and begin pulling out of iraq. it will be no less painful if we wait 5-10 years. sooner or later, iraqis will have to decide their future for themselves.

if they are willing to fight for democracy then democracy will reign. if not, they will get whatever form of government is effective in that region. my guess is it will either be totalitarian or fundamentalist islam. in other words, it will be modeled after either sadam's regime or the leadership in iran.

it doesn't matter what WE want. it matters what the iraqis want, and what they are willing to fight for.

when will we figure this out?

oh, and let's vote out the imbeciles ... republican AND democrats ... who got us into this mess. let's find the voices of reason that argued against iraq and let's vote them into office.

our young people are dying and getting maimed ... for NOTHING. stop the madness.

I'd like to volunteer to be Bob. I need a job and I am willing to lie for money! I'll even tell W he's winning and all is rosey.

"Bob", yeah, right.....Did he tell you how many schools he'd painted lately? And remember, all of this administrations' efforts to establish Iraq as a beacon of representative democracy in the middle east are coming to naught because you and your colleagues aren't reporting enough good news. Did you know you were that powerful?

Americans get accused of atrocities when they commit them. We fight with one armed tied behind our back because Dumbya won't send enough men/women/equipment/armor to do the job right, and never planned on keeping the country secure once we were done taking Baghdad. Reality hurts...deal with it.

'Bob' is probably a creation of the Lincoln group whom our military pays to write stories emphasizing the 'good news' out of Iraq.

If all we managed to do over there in over three years is paint some schools and try to rebuild the electricity and water services we blew up, this war was the worst failure in American history.

Very soon, the number of American deaths in Iraq is going to surpass the death toll of 9/11. Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld have killed more Americans than Bin Laden. And it's cost us $300 billion in direct costs. We're spending $2 billion a week over there now. 300,000 Iraqis are displaced, hundreds of thousands have died. But it's worth it because some schools got painted? Who really believes that?

If your "good news" is a school opening, you're admitting Bush betrayed America. He lied us into the war and now he can't win it and can't pull us out. Meanwhile, Iran and North Korea work on their nuclear bombs.

By the way, Iraq had schools, water, and electricity before the invasion. So tell me why we did it?

I worked for 5 months in the IZ, traveling as needed throughout Iraq. There is a reservoir of good will at the local level toward people (like Bob)who try to help. But underlying everything is the nasty little truth that when you go anywhere in Iraq (outside of Kurdistan), even with an armed escort, your life is in constant and significant peril. Never believe any "good news" from Iraq that does not contain this caveat. And do not expect any effective reconstruction or economic progress in Iraq until this problem is resolved.

Charlotte (11:18:58 AM), I'm sure you mean well, but there's always a silver lining to a bad situation. Lots of good things happened during and after 9/11 as well.

But as nice as it was to feel a renewed sense of community with the rest of the country, it wasn't as important as making a realistic assessment of the situation, first in rescue efforts, then in air security and fire safety, and finally in the country's intelligence infrastructure. When there's an existing problem that has caused a lot of deaths, and has the potential to cause many more deaths, it's crucial that it be fixed. For that it has to be understood.

You may not like hearing about so much death and destruction, but they're not only more prevalent than the positive outcomes in the Iraq reconstruction, they're more important. By far. It doesn't matter how they make you feel, and it doesn't matter which political candidates they help. This is a major problem that has to be solved, and nothing is currently being done to that end.

unless US drops her orthodox theories in the rules of engagement,lies and spins from washington will continue to muffle the rising cost this misadventure

While I am on the ground each and every day in Iraq, I see many terrible things, but I also see military units assisting with farmer co-ops, handing out school supplies for children, hospitals and schools being built, and military units in common volatile areas attempting to secure the streets so the Iraqi people can walk to and from work/school each day. I agree with the other comment posted, these news articles won't sell on the newsstands, but another person getting killed will. The media runs politics, so I don't put any faith in any polls. If the media did nothing but report the good things happening over here in Iraq, only 3% would be against the war. Those are just the facts and they will never change.

We certainly want the truth and I have found truth is not easy to find. You are doing a super job for America and i love you for it.

In response to Charlotte Hess: When you say you know "first hand" all these things in Iraq--have you been there? "First hand" means you've seen it with your own eyes.

Secondly, comparing the Amish schoolgirls to the violence in Baghdad is laughable and insulting, all at once. Seven schoolgirls is not an everyday occurrence. Sixty bodies, mutilated, with signs of torture, is an everyday occurrence in Baghdad.

You tell me things are going well. Thirty three of the soldiers you believe have died this month. Tell their families things are going well.

When was the last time you left Baghdad?

Are there news stories outside of that city, or do they not write up as well as the tripe you repeat day in and day out?

And we wonder why people are trusting the media less and less each day. We can't trust our government for their exagerations and white washing, and we can't trust the media for the exact same reasons.

Thanks for giving us an alternative. It's refreashing.

Jane, keep up the good fight. Truth never goes out of style. Ignore those who think you should spend more time with the troops, I think only the good reporters are put in harms way. Find you own path to the truth. Bob is a good thing- how can the truth stand out without a bad lie to compare it to? God Bless you, fear no evil. Stay safe

Remember when Barbara Bush said that living in the Astrodome was working out really well for the Katrina evacuees because they were "underprivileged anyway"? That's the kind of good news these privileged neo-cons expect. They probably think that since Iraqis generally live in caves, building schools for them is GREAT news! Well I've got news for them... they did have homes, they did have schools, they did have electricity, and they did have water. The schools we are building are the very ones that we blew up.

Sound's like Bob is a liar. A lot of that going around. It is sad to see so many of the mistakes we made in Vietnam repeated. This one was called the credibilty gap.