The rest of the story in Iraq

James Lyons:

The media seem to cover in intimate detail every al Qaeda and insurgent attack against U.S. and coalition forces and innocent Iraqi civilians. But average Americans are hard-pressed to find out what our approximately 150,000 combat troops and Iraqi forces accomplish day-to-day other than being targets.
It turns out our forces are making significant progress -- although you would never know it to read the papers or watch TV news. While violence against coalition forces remains high, sectarian killings have been lower in Baghdad over the last several weeks than previously. This is due to a number of new initiatives. The Iraqi government has enacted new weapons and curfew restrictions. Gen. David Petraeus has instilled a new attitude. He leads from the front, intermingling with Iraqis, and in concert with them, taking back neighborhoods block-by-block from insurgents.
While this is slow, deliberate work, it is nonetheless succeeding. Two major car bomb factories on the outskirts of Baghdad have been destroyed. Hundreds of insurgents affiliated with violent extremist groups have been identified and detained. Weapons production facilities have been obliterated. Large weapon caches as well as chemical agents have been recovered.
Iraqi Security Forces are gaining strength. They are now fighting alongside coalition forces. They also are assuming a greater responsibility for combating the insurgency as reflected by the fact insurgent casualties are now higher than the coalition's.
Even as coalition forces carry the fight to our adversaries, many community projects are being undertaken and completed. While these projects are not headline grabbers, they are essential in bringing stability to Iraq. Renovation and construction of 986 schools is complete, providing quality learning for more than 500,000 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
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There is much more on the infrastructure story. We are also winning the hearts and minds battle with the people in Iraq and the enemy is doing things to lose it. And, despite the lack of stories on the infrastructure wars the media coverage of the war has improved. They are reporting on the success of the surge in reducing violence and they are also now finally reporting on the wickedness of the enemy. This latter aspect may be the most important in winning the hearts and minds back home. It is in Washington where we are losing this war.