{"article":{"id":108572,"heading":"Good news abounding in Iraq","author":"Ryan Mauro","created":"2004-04-24 23:31:48","modified":"2013-11-11 00:29:30","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 07:29:30","article":"

The completion of 600 reconstruction projects goes unnoticed. The testimony of countless politicians, soldiers and Iraqis as to the improvement in Iraq goes unnoticed. The encouraging pictures of Iraqis and Americans, Muslims and Christians, all working together are not shown.

Negative reporting sells the best, but it has taken over what we're learning about the war. I cannot make a better point of this than asking readers to do a search on the Internet for testimonies of soldiers and politicians going to Iraq and seeing the difference. Rather than rephrase those testimonies, let me give another look at what's going on.

A brutal dictator and a state sponsor of terrorism (including al-Qaida) has been removed. Demonstrations for democracy and freedom are becoming the norm in countries like Syria, Lebanon, Iran and Saudi Arabia. (Of course, I only know about that because I read the Arab press; no American papers are reporting it.)

Syria, surrounded by pro-West states, is making moves to pull out of Lebanon and has never felt such pressure to stop supporting terrorism. Reforms are occurring in that Baathist country, including banning the law that everyone in government must be a Baathist.

Iran is at its weakest point ever, as was clearly demonstrated in late June when mass demonstrations went on for weeks. The call for reforms there are getting louder and louder, and the regime is in its final days. Iran, too, finds itself surrounded by allies in the war on terror.

Saudi Arabia is even being forced to act against terrorism and is also engaging in reforms. The country's first municipal elections are being set up. Over 600 terrorists have been arrested in the past six months, and 3,500 preachers have been \"re-taught,\" while the ones unwilling to change their pledges to incite Muslims have been fired. New restrictions on charities are being implemented, and countless terrorist attacks have been foiled.

Almost every war in history has a guerilla-war element. Time and patience are the cures for this disease. Sure, some mistakes were made in Iraq – borders were not secured, there aren't enough troops and the Iraqi army was dissolved instead of used for security. But the fact that the war is going into its seventh month, the fact that 600 reconstruction projects have been finished, the fact that most of the Saddam regime leadership has been killed or captured, are all ignored because American troops are being killed.

About 330 troops have been killed, but Iraq is huge, and we are being attacked by five powerful forces. Before the war, I remember warning that although Saddam's regime would collapse, this would be the hardest and most critical battle in the war on terror.

Geographically, the U.S. is situated in a spot where victory will permanently change the tide in the war on terror and result in less bloodshed in the future. Non-combat warfare could be waged that would be more successful than any military campaign could hope for.

But I also warned that this would be the hardest battle, because we'd fight several forces. In World War II, we fought Japan, Italy and Germany. In this one battle, we'll be fighting the Baathist resistance forces, terrorist volunteers and forces fully backed by Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia. They are using all their resources to fight us, because a victory in Iraq means their days of sponsoring terror (which their regimes were founded upon) are numbered.

But we have the upper hand. Anyone with knowledge of the forces we would fight would not have expected a mere 330 troops to be killed about seven months into the conflict. As progress is made, the sharp and sudden increase we saw by the appearance of foreign fighters (which likely would have traveled to the West if Iraq had not been such a nearby battlefield) will be matched by an even sharper and more sudden decrease in the attacks. Soon after that, the light of democracy in Iraq will give even more hope to the freedom fighters in the region.

This is a psychological war, and we can only win it by being steadfast. As progress is made, foreign fighters will be unable to hide. This is the most dangerous time in the Iraq war, and the progress being made is unmistakable – if you choose to see. And so I conclude with a message to the media: The Iraqis are cheerfully watching the progress being made, and we, too, should be seeing it.

<\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"\u201cGood News Abounding in Iraq\u201d. October 25, 2003. WorldNetDaily.com. \r\nhttp:\/\/www.wnd.com\/news\/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35266.","numcomment":18,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2004\/04\/108572.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":108586,"heading":"Take your antipsychotics please","article":"Haven't been taking your medication have you? Obviously the hallucinations are returning.. In the real world; US Dead Total surpasses 700 (100 in Aprilalone ), wounded in April alone close to 600, Seimens, Bechtel and GE leaving Iraq projects, Baath party member recruited for Army ( reversing Bremmer's Plan), etc., etc.","author":"Your Doctor","parent_id":108572,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-04-25 00:33:47","modified":"2004-04-25 00:33:47","fileurl":""},{"id":108587,"heading":"I like this one","article":"But with a bit of addition to bring it closer to the facts.\r\n"- A brutal dictator and a state sponsor of terrorism (including al-Qaida)' both of which were a creation of our intelligence sevices.","author":"Sheepdog","parent_id":108572,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-04-25 00:46:48","modified":"2004-04-25 00:46:48","fileurl":""},{"id":108601,"heading":"Not to mention that","article":"to this day, no evidence linking Al-Queda and Hussein's regime has been demonstrated.\r\n\r\nSome lies become truth when harped along repeatedly...","author":"Crow","parent_id":108572,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-04-25 02:44:16","modified":"2004-04-25 02:44:16","fileurl":""},{"id":108608,"heading":".","article":"Obviously the hallucinations are returning.. In the real world; US Dead Total surpasses 700 (100 in Aprilalone ), wounded in April alone close to 600, \r\n\r\nAnd 30,000 this year will die on America's freeways, either as drunken fools or as victims of others' foolishness. \r\n","author":".","parent_id":108572,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-04-25 06:09:38","modified":"2004-04-25 06:09:38","fileurl":""},{"id":108622,"heading":"good news from Iraq","article":"There is good news from Iraq - a massive movement against imperialism is successfully confronting US imperialism for the first time since the Vietnam War. Radicalism has spread to amazing extent in the United States because of this; I'd say the radicalism is about at the stage it was in 1966 - soon to burst out in a genuinely massive movement. For anyone who likes to see body blows struck at the US ruling class and everything it stands for there is much ground for optimism.","author":"Meyer London","parent_id":108572,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-04-25 14:04:30","modified":"2004-04-25 14:04:30","fileurl":""},{"id":108628,"heading":"grounddirt for optimism, you mean?","article":"the radicals in iraq want the U.S. out, before stability can take hold, and their reasons for this?...appears that power, religion, hatred, backwards, stupid, etc. come quiclky to mind, and the spread to the world is heralded by fauxradicals as progress,...so disgusting","author":"opto+","parent_id":108572,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-04-25 19:12:16","modified":"2004-04-25 19:12:16","fileurl":""},{"id":108633,"heading":"comes quickly to mind","article":"What else comes quickly to mind?\r\nIt looks as if we provide an excellent motivation for common ground in the ham fisted approach to our 'liberation & stability' with spector gunships and j-dam ordnance.","author":"Spoink","parent_id":108572,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-04-25 21:59:08","modified":"2004-04-25 21:59:08","fileurl":""},{"id":108634,"heading":"Disgusting","article":"I can't believe that liberals like Meyer are cheering these destructive elements in Iraq. It's always the way with the Left, from Stalin to Pol Pot to the Saddam loylaists of today.\r\n\r\nYou're in a state of sin, Meyer. ","author":"Barney","parent_id":108572,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-04-25 22:19:23","modified":"2004-04-25 22:19:23","fileurl":""},{"id":108642,"heading":"Believe it, Barn","article":"This site harbors the last few marxist and communist remnants. Expect nothing but horseshit and denial...in battle with these "intellectuals" always swing for the fence, they got nuthin'.","author":"Kull the Conqueror","parent_id":108572,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-04-26 00:29:17","modified":"2004-04-26 00:29:17","fileurl":""},{"id":108681,"heading":"factual untruth","article":""Negative reporting sells the best, but it has taken over what we're learning about the war."\r\n\r\nThat's not true. The press, with the exception of this current war, and Vietnam, have generally been extremely supportive of wars. Good war news sells very well. Most people don't like negative news.\r\n\r\nThe current shift in reporting reflects a wider dissatisfaction with the war effort.","author":"more rational","parent_id":108572,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-04-26 18:33:53","modified":"2004-04-26 18:33:53","fileurl":""},{"id":108809,"heading":""."","article":""And 30,000 this year will die on America's freeways, either as drunken fools or as victims of others' foolishness. "\r\n\r\nAhhh, lookey here. The neocon fools (pardon the redundancy) have turned to rationalizing the deaths of this insane occupation away.\r\n\r\nThey never cease to amaze me with their stupidity.\r\n\r\n\r\n","author":"Maxwell","parent_id":108572,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-04-27 21:01:59","modified":"2004-04-27 21:01:59","fileurl":""},{"id":108813,"heading":"try again","article":""Ahhh, lookey here. The neocon fools (pardon the redundancy) have turned to rationalizing the deaths of this insane occupation away."\r\n\r\nThey never cease to amaze me with their stupidity. \r\n\r\n>>> *Your* constant amazement is inevitable, the stupid look of surprise never leaving your face as your backwards value system is trumped by common sense and human nature again and again. \r\n That's the difference between the left and the right. "Righty" expects liberals\/marxists\/communist\/socialists to support foolishness.\r\n\r\n>>> The left disdains the military and views US soldiers as imperialist stormtroopers, therefore a liberal's "concern" over X number of American troops dying anywhere is at best insincere and at worst insulting.\r\n ","author":"Air America: will work for food","parent_id":108572,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-04-27 21:18:32","modified":"2004-04-27 21:18:32","fileurl":""},{"id":108818,"heading":"American troops dying anywhere is at best insincere and at worst insulting.","article":"Isn't it funny (not really it's rather sick and usual) that people color the world through their own perceptions? While our kids are killing and being killed, you beat your chicken chest and cheer for the slaughter but I doubt you will care about the Mind warped and DU poisoned troops if and when they return.","author":"Sheepdog","parent_id":108572,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-04-27 21:29:01","modified":"2004-04-27 21:29:01","fileurl":""},{"id":108837,"heading":"hippies say "evil? what evil?"","article":"Isn't it funny (not really it's rather sick and usual) that people color the world through their own perceptions?\r\n\r\n----Yeah, how else can someone STILL believe communism will work after 100 million murdered and mass starvation?\r\n\r\nWhile our kids are killing and being killed, you beat your chicken chest and cheer for the slaughter but I doubt you will care about the Mind warped and DU poisoned troops if and when they return.\r\n\r\n----War is an ugly business, no doubt. I respect the sacrifice by acknowledging it for what it is: the destruction of evil...evil which liberals deny exists except in anyone who disagrees with their nonsense.\r\n\r\n----There's no room in the bullshit muticultural circle, or anywhere civilized, for homicide bombers.\r\n\r\n>>> P.S. DU poisoning? Zero proof.\r\n","author":"Air America: will work for food","parent_id":108572,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-04-28 01:33:57","modified":"2004-04-28 01:33:57","fileurl":""},{"id":108903,"heading":""homicide bombers"","article":"I coined that asinine term just to get stupid, oblivious fucks like you to keep watching the tripe that we at the Fox News Channel spoonfeed you.","author":"Rupert Murdoch","parent_id":108572,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-04-28 19:50:43","modified":"2004-04-28 19:50:43","fileurl":""},{"id":108911,"heading":"reap the truth, guttersnipes","article":""I coined that asinine term just to get stupid, oblivious fucks like you to keep watching the tripe that we at the Fox News Channel spoonfeed you."\r\n\r\n---quote from a fraud who dares call himself Rupert Murdoch\r\n\r\nIf you had any balls, you'd at least take on the persona of one of your lefty heroes like Al Franken. But that's too embarasssing for anyone. \r\n\r\nWhen the coward lights his strap-on bomb, he feels nothing and his vaporized while he kills those around him with shrapnel.\r\n\r\n'Homicide bomber' has a nice ring to it. So does 'sandnigger coward.'\r\n\r\n\r\n","author":"by Air America Radio: will work for food","parent_id":108572,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-04-28 20:56:03","modified":"2004-04-28 20:56:03","fileurl":""},{"id":109005,"heading":"'sandnigger coward.'","article":"Way to go, KOBE HQ.\r\n\r\nSpoken like the racist scum that you are.","author":"anti-racist","parent_id":108572,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-04-29 19:57:02","modified":"2004-04-29 19:57:02","fileurl":""}]}