Improvements

Things seem to be improving in Iraq to the point that protesters across the world will soon be seen as merely irrationally anti-Iraqi -- or anti-American. From Omar at Iraqthemodel:

:: This morning, Al-Hurra TV reported that the IP succeeded in locating and disarming a big bomb placed in a car in the crowded Al-Jihad district in Baghdad. The bomb was made up of more than 50 kilograms of highly explosive materials together with some artillery shells.
The report also showed pictures for the car and the explosives.

:: Al-Sharqiya TV reported that the IP forces in Basra made a successful arrest of the largest oil-smuggling gang.
The report said that the IP arrested nine members of the gang and found 24 tankers loaded with oil and ready to be smuggled outside Iraq.

:: Al-Sabah paper reported that the IP has arrested the biggest abduction and assassination gang in Baghdad.
There was a fierce fight and heavy gun fire exchange before the IP could arrest the gang with their chief and there were no casualties among the IP.
The gang is believed to have connections outside Iraq.

The Iraqis are starting to take care of business. And for all those oh-so-fashionable protesters, your embarassing end is coming soon. And you will have been proven wrong for the whole world to see.

And finally, this from the new Iraqi PM: Dr Iyad Allawi:

As Iraqis, we thank the coalition for the sacrifices made by its soldiers and its people for the liberation and rebuilding of Iraq, and for the contributions by all the countries, international organisations and NGOs that have braved the risks to assist Iraq in its time of need.

'Nuff said.

And these are the snivelling whiners that hate us...

A great piece in today NY Daily News by Bob Drury really points out the widespread hated of American abroad. The lead:

They don't hate you, they loathe "your President." They don't despise us, they deride "our government." From Belfast to Bali, Trieste to Tadzhikistan, and in France, of course, the disdain reserved for the United States' "adventurism" in the Middle East is beginning to trickle down to individual American travelers.

Mr Drury then compiles of a list of ancedotes that atart to resemble data of the ourse of the piece. However, he slides this in as the payoff line:

Yet beneath this veneer of open animosity, there is among many a resolute belief in the ultimate goodwill of American power.

Roshan Khadivi, an American of Persian descent who has worked with international aid agencies throughout central Asia, says her contacts universally believe only the U.S. can really save them.

They hate us, yet, we're the only folks who can save them. Heaven help them when we finally have had enough of the continous complaining.

And from Andrew the Genius:

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "But there is an added technique for weakening a nation at its very roots ... The method is simple. It is first, a dissemination of discord. A group - not too large - a group that may be sectional or racial or political - is encouraged to exploit its prejudices through false slogans and emotional appeals. The aim of those who deliberately egg on these groups is to create confusion of counsel, public indecision, political paralysis and, eventually, a state of panic. Sound national policies come to be viewed with a new and unreasoning skepticism ... As a result of these techniques, armament programs may be dangerously delayed. Singleness of national purpose may be undermined. . . . The unity of the state can be so sapped that its strength is destroyed. All this is no idle dream. It has happened time after time, in nation after nation, during the last two years." - FDR, May 26, 1940. I wonder what Roosevelt would have made of Michael Moore, don't you?