I really feel bad for the average people that are caught in the middle of this war. A war of government(s) and corporations - rather then of the common Iraqi. One can almost compare this to the US Civil War and gain an understanding of what it must have been like to be forced into fitting within - brother versus brother.

Dear rm....I wouldn't call it "brother versus brother". It's Shia thugs vs Sunni thugs to see who gets to rule now that Saddam is gone.

I hope some will check out http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/

for a different viewpoint from two brothers who live in Baghdad.

Once again rmowery, great minds ... (link)

By the way, I second jatfla's recommendation ... Iraq the Model is a pretty fascinating blog. They try to put a brave face on things but even they have been getting rather shockingly pessimistic over the past couple of months. (Here's a link to one of their more popular recent stories.) I clipped something of theirs a while back to the effect that, as of now, there is no viable or legitimate political authority in Iraq that could actually provide genuine stability, meaning that it is basically a foregone conclusion that Iran is going to end up taking the lion's share of influence.

enbar...is it really fair to recommend an older post and call it a "more popular recent" story? The blogger is supportive and hopeful of what is going on in Iraq and particularly Baghdad. Please allow him to post something positive that he is actually noticing and also his more current observations in light of the recent increase in activity against the terrorists there. :~)

jatfla, that post I cited is less than three weeks old. It's the seventh or eighth most recent one. And the tone the blogger takes is pretty characteristic of the rest of his posts over the last few months, if you ask me. Like i said, he's ideologically committed to supporting the Bush administration -- that's obvious enough from his blogroll -- but when he talks about what's actually going on in his hometown, it sounds pretty bleak.

Ok enbar...I'll take your comments as an honest appraisal of the blog...as you see it.

I think that I want it to succeed so very much.....and others want it to fail equally as much. :~(

jatfla, come on, please. Do you actually believe that liberals want the chaos, violence, and destruction in Iraq to continue? The fact that some of us insist on actually talking about reality doesn't mean that we like that particular reality. I wish things in Iraq were going perfectly. But that wish is not going to cause me to pretend that they are. So far, things have been disastrous, especially when compared with the predictions made by the Bush administration ("cakewalk," "we know where they are," "welcomed as liberators," etc.). I'd like to see some serious, realistic discussion of possible policy changes, and some genuine, honest conversation about goals. No one seems even to know why we're there any more.