Bert suggested this in an earlier comment, but guys, give a read to Iraq The Model. The blogging revolution allows us to read in the FIRST person the experience of an Iraqi. As expected, the grammar isn't perfect, but it is certainly passable. Reading this, I am filled with optimism and hope for the future of Iraq.

You sit in a restaurant like this one and see families relaxing with their children playing and having fun late at night and you feel that there’s ‘something’ wrong in the way MSM is dealing with the Iraqi issue. I watch TV and I see hell breaking around me then I go outside and see enough normalcy AND progress to make me believe that the people in the media are not here to report how’s life going but rather they are here reporting pre-prepared stories and to be faced with something that contradicts the picture they have in their minds would be really annoying and will mean more hard work to try to find the truth or something close to it.

So let me see, I’m a reporter in Iraq and I’m here to tell stories that sell from a land that has been invaded, as everyone is saying it was invaded and not liberated. God, that must be awful! Ok so I need destruction, death, fear, clashes in the streets, angry mob...etc. Where do families having dinner in a place they couldn’t afford before the war, or a father buying a new car for his son which he also couldn’t afford before, or a man renewing his house which was falling apart, or free speech and flourishing business, where does all this fit in such a frame?! It doesn’t! Besides, where's the action in such boring stories!? Moreover, there are pictures of death and destruction and they only need some ‘further clarification’, and that’s easier than making a whole new story. So why bother! I already have frames for good stories and I’ve worked hard in that and it would be a shame to waste all that effort and start all over again. So let’s get the story we worked on and get the hell out of here.

It has also made me feel good about my Spirit of America donations. When you cut through all the political crap, what we have at the end are people ... just like us ... who love and respect liberty and freedom. I wholly support the pursuit of liberty and freedoms by all people... and will continue to align myself with any President who has the foresight to make sure freedoms flourish.