What a mess

Manifesto

I've generally stopped reading stories about the day to day operations of the Army in Iraq because it is simply the same story, with different body counts, every day. That said, I was encouraged when I got to work yesterday and saw this headline on MSNBC, "Wary cooperation between U.S., Sadr" The story goes on to describe the cooperation and the positive effect it is having in Baghdad:

After four years of hostility, Sadr and the Americans are cooperating uneasily as the United States and Iraq attempt to tame Baghdad's sectarian violence. American officials, who in recent months described Sadr's Mahdi Army and other Shiite militias as the biggest threat to Iraq's stability, now praise the Shiite cleric.
[...]
"We're very encouraged by what we're seeing on the ground right now in Sadr City," said Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, the U.S. military's chief spokesman in Baghdad. "There is a tremendous amount of cooperation and dialogue ongoing. It's proven to be very beneficial to both sides."

Finally, a bit of good news. As much as I think the war in Iraq is a strategic nightmare, doomed to failure, I still hope that things get better and it all works out in the end.

Of course, things change quickly in Iraq. Just hours later, this was the headline on MSNBC, "Al-Sadr calls on supporters to resist U.S." Whoops. Reason number 8,001 to get the hell out of Iraq as soon as possible.