Here are some news stories. One of these things is not like the others, in more ways than one:
11.29.2005 Hundreds of pro-coalition demonstrators chanting “yes to Iraq, no to terrorism” marched through Baghdad yesterday
01.26.2006 SAMARA, (IRIN) More than 1,000 protesters hit the streets of Samara, some 125km northof the capital, Baghdad, this week to demonstrate against al-Qaida militants blamed for killing more than 100 local police recruits this month.
07.06.2005 Hundreds of Iraqis demonstrate against terrorism in Mosul
3.06.2006 March to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations by about a dozen U.S. and Iraqi anti-war activists.
03.05.2006 More than 2,000 people demonstrated Tuesday at the site of a car bombing south of Baghdad that killed 125 people, chanting “No to terrorism!”
Ok, guess which of these stories appeared in the NY Times and the LA Times? Only one of the 5. If you guessed the Sheehan story, you win the Capt. Obvious award.
UPDATE: For factual news from Iraq by someone who actually lives there, read Iraq the Model The story today is especially good.
Mortars were louder than reason in Baghdad today
I always talk to my father when things get complicated; this man lived through the times of the monarchy, the first republic, the pan-Arab nationalists and the Ba’ath and he’s from the generation that ruled Iraq for decades and many of our current politicians belong to this generation. This makes men like my father closer to understanding the way his generation thinks as well as its internal conflicts, so I threw at him the urging questions and confused thoughts I had in my head:
Me: How is this mess going to resolve dad?
Dad: it is not.
Me: Are you positive? Why?
Dad: People find solutions only if they wanted to and I think many of the political players do not want a solution.
Read the whole thing, as they say.