Winning (and whining) in Iraq

...Military intelligence indicates poor Iraqis are often paid by others to throw a grenade or take a potshot at U.S...

...The Kurdish north is peaceful and its long-persecuted people anxious to be part of a federal Iraq...

...Sure, electricity is sometimes interrupted, and city trash can pile up for days, but the south is rolling steadily along...

...In the long run, it's not Americans but Iraqis who will do the rebuilding, once a revived economy gives them the means...

...The title—"Results in Iraq: 100 Days Toward Security and Freedom"—had all the appeal of a high school term paper, and that's a fair measure of the attention the report received when it was issued on August 8. Major media outlets pooh-poohed it...

...She left the Marines shaking their heads, wondering whether the locals will ever be satisfied with the hard work of their American occupiers...

...casualties since the end of the war...

...I feel that we are in debt to them...

...While it does, in some cases, tip to the sunny side of what's happening in postHussein Iraq, the report is not inaccurate...

...The persistent violence against American troops is almost all occurring in the Baathist heartland, the area known as the Sunni Triangle, between Ramadi, Baghdad, Baquba, and Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown...

...The violence comes mainly from Saddam loyalists...

...Each province has, or will soon have, its law-enforcement and judicial system up and running, with Iraqi cops on the beat, Iraqi judges hearing cases, and civil servants taking care of problems that in the past were solved with guns...

...Both the Kurdish region of the north, which achieved near-autonomy in the 1990s under the protection of the U.S.-enforced no-fly zone, and the long-oppressed Shiite south enjoy considerable stability...

...The governor of Al Hilla, for instance, where the ancient city of Babylon is located, is looking to tourism to pump more money into his economy...

...forces, and some have turned violent...

...Thus, it notes that electrical power in Iraq "is now more equitably distributed and more stable," without mentioning that Baghdad continues to be plagued by week-long blackouts...

...I would like to have tourists come visit this place...

...It states that water in many areas comes out of the tap at pre-conflict levels, but omits that the water is dangerously unsanitary...

...The impression one gets after listening to such grumbling is that the Iraqis believe the United States can solve all of their country's problems quickly and thoroughly...

...troops...

...OCCUPATION of Iraq passed its hundredth day and America's postwar death toll rose toward 60, the Bush administration released a 24-page paper to extol the successes of an increasingly trying and bloody phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom...

...forces had a lot to be proud of...

...there are no pro-Saddam rallies...

...On a hot July day, sitting in his less-than-regal office—an oblong, cinder-block room with ill-trimmed wall-to-wall carpeting and a wide bookshelf that looked as if it had never held a book—Iskander Jawad Witwit praised the work of the Marines, calling them his brothers...

...forces far more than the troops can provide...

...But the troops at the receiving end are remarkably patient and firm, often allowing demonstrations to proceed and seeking out elders or organizers to entertain their grievances...

...But there's little sign of shaken resolve from the troops...

...In describing the revival of commerce and the improved security situation in most of the country, the "100 Days" report is not overstated...

...With guile, persistence, and some luck, Iraq should soon be on a more secure path, and many of our troops on their way home...

...The violence in the Sunni Triangle overshadows the successes in the south, where the Marines are in charge...

...Take the Marines of Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, working to stabilize the southern city of Karbala...

...Even our brother Arabs haven't done this much for us," he remarked...

...The violence seems random, and it doesn't seem to support any particular movement or cause...

...this is beginning to show in an increased aggressiveness and determination to root out the perpetrators...

...Then turning to the future, he explained his goals for the province...

...The south is on its way to a remarkable recovery...

...They have installed a governor in each of the five provinces (called "governates") in their region, the British two...

...some Baghdadis can watch everything from Thailand News to Fox...

...With the billions potentially to be gained from oil sales and international investment, Iraq could tackle its problems and begin the process of developing a democratic society...

...enough so that the Iraqis are able to shift their attention to matters less basic than day-to-day survival...

...Even in the south, there is complaining, mostly around the themes of jobs, schools, and electricity...

...The report "marked a more concerted administration effort to counter a stream of troubling news from Iraq and the resulting criticisms from Democrats," wrote the Washington Post...

...The Army, which is in charge in the north, has absorbed all of the U.S...

...Yet while the headmistress politely thanked the Marines, she also mentioned that the color of paint they had used would look unattractive during the rainy season and demanded air conditioners rather than fans...

...The job the United States has taken on in Iraq has not been easy, and paying with the blood of our fighting men to right Hussein's wrongs is heartbreaking...

...But as the first hundred days of the Iraqi occupation came and went, U.S...

...They spent weeks refurbishing an elementary school, painting, rewiring, and installing ceiling fans in all the classrooms—critical in the summer months when the temperature rises past 120 degrees...

...They sometimes demand of U.S...

...Many former Baathists who worked in Baghdad and lived in its suburbs have returned to family farms or homes in the towns that dot Highway 1 north, where they are staging their attacks...

...Among other goods unavailable during the previous regime, satellite dishes are seemingly ubiquitous, and Christian Lowe is a staff writer for Army Times Publishing...

...In a measure of the security situation in the southern provinces, the Marines have already begun to shift control to coalition partners such as the Dutch and Italians—a move unthinkable in the volatile north...

...Some protests are directed against U.S...

...If there's one lesson to take away from a stay in Iraq, it's that the country urgently needs to pump its oil wealth back into the local economy, rather than into the pockets of Baathist fat cats in Baghdad...

...I want to build a hotel and casino at Babylon," he said...

...In addition, some attacks are being organized—or even carried out—by forces from outside the country...

...The Sunni Triangle is still a thorn in the occupation forces' side...