A journalist on the scene in Mosul gets it:

I still haven’t seen U.S. troops engaged or encounter car bombs or explosives. But I did see them play backgammon with some local police and Iraqi soldiers. I saw them take photos with more locals and make jokes mostly lost in translation. They gave advice and expertise to local troops on how to conduct a neighborhood patrol. They drank the local customary tea, and many admitted they’ve become addicted to it. They know several locals by name...

...More than anything in the last few days I’ve heard from soldiers and commanders that people back home don’t quite get it. They don’t see the real picture. They don’t get the real story. Some of them, like Lt. Col. Gregg Parrish, look seriously pained in the face when he says only a part of the picture is being told; the part of car bombs and explosives and suicide bombers and death. It’s a necessary part of the picture, but not a complete one, he says.

It's not long. Read the whole thing.

I've read the whole one... It's well said, but is it all true? I can't believe.

Both my sons were in the military on 9/11 and when the war started. My older son just returned from his second cruise of the Persian Gulf doing drug and oil smuggling searches.

My younger son has been in Iraq and the area in general, as a Marine Combat Engineer.

This article tells the same story I got from them.

I raised them, taught them to be truthful and also how to be objective. If I have a choice of believing my sons or NBC, ABC and CBS, about what its like in country, I'll believe my sons.

Semper Fi, Anchors Away!!

Don't know if I'll post again soon so Merry Christmas, and Happy Hannukah to all who read and post here.

We're not getting the whole story of what's happening in Iraq, but we're getting "all the news that fits their views" of the reporters. "If it bleeds, it leads" means that bombs and attacks get covered but schools and hospitals opening isn't considered newsworthy.

And the press wonders why their audience is shrinking and the news media is having to lay off employees.

Larry makes good points. The press would hardly comment on what is everyday behaviour if it happened here in the US. The fact that most people leave ordinary lives is not newsworthy, yet it is politically invaluable. Most people want to simply enjoy life. If the media showed more Iraqis just enjoying everyday life (bonus, if enjoying with Americans), then the anti-war left would rapidly decline in numbers.