Iraq News (24 March)

The Good: The Iraqis in the province of Anbar frequently are embittered that the central government of Iraq isn't giving them enough money for infrastructure improvements. In case any big time multinational oil executives read this wacky blog, you can help them out by bidding on development projects to utilize the gas fields in the mostly Sunni province. A suicide bomber cell in Diyala province was taken out by US forces. Guess the terroists won't get to achieve the glory of massacring innocent civilians. Props to the squad that eliminated these nutjobs.

The Bad: Argh, way too much violence yesterday. Steel rain, a suicide truck bomb that targeted an Iraqi Army COP, and a drive-by shooting in Baghdad. Also, the ugly, grim milestone of 4,000 was reached after an IED killed 4 US soldiers in Baghdad. I'm sure this ugliness will be used by pundits in the American political scene to make a cause for or against the war. There's only one thing that comes to my mind when any coalition soldier or Iraqi is killed in this god-awful violence...shitty.

The Ugly: Stable security is being maintained in Fallujah, but with what kind of tactics. The Washington Post paints a picture that isn't pretty and even uses some analogies to Saddam. And General Petraeus to bring "Good News" about Iraq in the upcoming April testimony? I doubt it. It's most likely to be a mix of what's gone right and what needs a whole lot of improvement.

Caution: Media Loves to Identify with Grim Milestones of Death and Violence