Fumento: Despite media blackout, good news from Fallujah

[Barrett808]

Despite media blackout, good news from Fallujah
By MICHAEL FUMENTO
Guest Commentary

AFTER CRISSCROSSING Fallujah by foot and Humvee in May, I reported on tremendous progress being made to restore "the city we had to destroy to save." Actually, fighting left most of the town unscathed; most damage was from three decades of neglect under Saddam Hussein. And rebuilding began almost immediately.

Good news from Iraq rarely gets a single story compared to the Texas stake-out that generates many thousands on a war protesters. Yet it occurs nonetheless. The following is from an e-mail by Navy Lt. Cameron Chen, head of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit of the 8th Engineer Support Battalion at Camp Fallujah, with which I had a short embed. You'll see Chen doesn't wear a miniskirt and shake pompoms, but he's certainly optimistic.

Chen writes in his e-mail:

"The city is slowly rebuilding and returning to life. Some report that it's now the safest city in the Sunni Triangle because of the heavy presence of Iraqi police and army. Every major intersection now has unarmed Iraqi police directing traffic in crisp short-sleeve button down shirts, white gloves, black flack vests, and dark blue pants. More frequently we're responding to IEDs (improvised explosive devices) reported by local children, police and informants.

(more)

http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=59697

[keopeli]

1. Listen to the end of this guy's email

"The insurgency continues despite the changes. We are seeing a lot of IEDs..."

"Don't listen to the "quagmire" crowd. This war is being won."

--

Quagmire = insurgency continuing despite changes


right?

[Barrett808]

2. Yeah, these "suppressed good news" guys really have to squint...

...to see "progress."