Fair and balanced - the good news

Let's look at the positive side for a change

Okay, so I know I just post all the crap. I should probably at least start pointing to some of the positive things our soldiers are doing in Iraq. Not just our soldiers, but our tax money.

For instance, the shining light in the administration's goodie bag: Iraqi schools.

Perhaps it's only fair to look at it from the point of view of the people who are running the schools and the kids attending.

You can see it coming already, can't you?

In addition to the fact that we've fired 28,000 teachers, and we frisk the children, and parents are scared to send their kids off to school because there's a FREAKING WAR GOING ON IN THE STREETS, Bechtel appears to be reconstructing the buildings on the cheap, and the needs of the teachers are being ignored, while soldiers are performing school searches for signs of opposition.

When Lieutenant Corban Sawyer enters the principal's office, his rearguard takes up his post at the door, automatic weapon resting on his knee, eyes suspiciously on the potentially hostile schoolyard.

Lieutenant Sawyer says he feels good about helping the neighborhood get back on its feet, even though he is actually responsible for military "intelligence gathering". His job fo rtoday: inventory. He asks the head if she needs anything fo rthe school. Khadija hands over a list with a smile...

As soon as the officer leaves the office, Khadija's smile quickly fades. "I hate it when they turn up unannounced," she explains. "The first time they came here, they went from classroom to classroom with guns dangling over their shoulders, asking the terrified children whom they loved more, Saddam Hussein or GeorgeBush."

The school principal expects little from the Americans. The list of provisions for the school, she says--tables, chairs and a television set--she has given to the Americans at least a dozen times. At first she used to write a new list for each visit, now she simply copies the old one. "There is no point, nothing happens anyway," she explains.  article

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.