Returning Field Officers testify before congress
 

...that the news media is giving a false impression about events in Iraq. One officer stated that the media portrayal of Iraqi's in general as being unfriendly towards and viewing Americans as being occupiers is in direct opposition to his experience in Iraq.

Bottom line...as we all know...the media exploits the negative...and rarely presents the positive be it in Iraq or any other event.

Iraq is the size of Texas, if the national news reported all the major crime and shootings in Texas, there would be no time to report on the happenings in the other 49 states, let alone the rest of the world. :(

It depends on where they are. I have had several friends in Iraq and when they came back they had very mixed feelings.

When they were stationed in some areas they were treated like heros and had a great time and did nothing but hand out food and clothes and stuff. But some were rotated into areas they wish they have never seen. Lots of killing, violence, extreme hatred towards everybody and lots of cruelty. Most of them get very choked up about what they have seen and some just won't talk about it at all.

My best friend's husband had several guys in his unit kill themselves after returning home (something you also don't ever hear about on the news). Apparently these guys were split up from the group at one point and sent to do guard duty at a prision near Bagdad and they were really fucked up about it after they got home.

I don't doubt that these soldiers are telling the truth about what they experienced but they are blind if they choose to think that is how the entire country is right now.

This for real or are they gonna say stuff to "clear the air" and make it all "nice"?? :-)

It is well-known what the situation in Iraq is - there are enough orgs monitoring it now and producing data - a thing the Pentagon don't think is neccessary - with the exception of a US body count.

We gotta fool the people not just some of the time, but all of the time...