Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Good and Bad in Iraq   [W. Thomas Smith Jr.]

BAGHDAD (12:34 am EDT — 8:34 am Iraq Time) As I mentioned Sunday, there is much going on here — good and bad — that is not being reported.

First the bad: The fighting is heavier and the bombings more frequent than what we might imagine in the states.

For instance, we might read one day that there was a car-bombing in a Baghdad market that killed an untold number of people. The reality is there were probably four or more bombings just from my vantage point on that same day. And many more elsewhere in the country. That doesn't include mortar attacks and gunbattles. Intermittent shooting is throughout the day. Full-blown firefights are every night.

So much is not reported, because most of the journalists — particularly in this city — are hunkered down behind the relatively secure walls of the Green Zone.

The good news is, there is indeed infrastructural progress going on. Much of the country is relatively secure. And General Petraeus is indeed the right man — militarily speaking — on the ground. Also, the ordinary Iraqi (and I've spoken to many since I've been here) believes there is a future for Iraq, because they have, as they say, "some freedom, some democracy," and that will overcome all obstacles in front of them.

The Iraqis' greatest fear (contrary to what those in the U.S. who are opposed to the war-effort seem to want everyone to believe) is that the Americans will abandon them. The vast majority of them want us here. In fact, they are eagerly, almost impatiently, waiting to see the promised increase in U.S. troop presence in this country. They trust us and the Brits far more than they trust their own countrymen (though they'll readily admit that most of their countrymen are good people). And for good reason.

In the coming days, I'll explain this, and I'll discuss what Iraqis are telling me must be done to save their country.

Right now, I'm heading back out on the road.

Editor’s note: Please see this note.

04/03 12:34 AMShare