I’ve fussed a lot about mainstream media types who are so anxious to bust on George Bush that they wouldn’t recognize good news if it bit them on the … well, you know. I’d wondered how much good stuff would have to be happening before reporters felt they would have no choice but to report it.
This article from Kim Curtis of the Associated Press is a refreshing change of pace:
For veterans of Ramadi, it seems like a different place and a different war.
Just last year, soldiers were breaking down doors, hunting insurgents and struggling to secure the city block by block. U.S. troops now are invited into the homes of sheiks for lunch.
Life is not all good in this former Sunni extremist fiefdom about 70 miles west of Baghdad, but it’s better. Today’s worries aren’t car bombs or shelling in the streets. There’s peace enough to complain about the crippled electricity grid, dirty water, broken sewers.
Marines and soldiers also have adopted different roles: urban planners, community relations managers and political operatives.
Update 11/3/07: Another one. Makes you wonder what they’re up to. Thousands Return to Safer Iraqi Capital
Update 11/13/07: Violence down in Baghdad
