Iraq - The Story on the Ground

As the charade played out on Pennsylvania Avenue over funding the troops for the next few months, NPR offered some amazing reporting and stories from the ground in Iraq.

Last week, Anne Garrels provided a reasonably hopeful report on Members of the 12th Cavalry trying to heal the divisions between the Sunni and Shia.

Over the last two days on Morning Edition, two stories really brought the horror of what's happened in Baghdad since the Invasion. Yesterday, Anne Garells' piece on driving through Baghdad (i.e. A Hell of a Commute) described the scene: double the cars and no traffic lights four years after the invasion.

Then this morning, NPR employee Saleem Amer told the story of his family living in a Sunni-Shia neighborhood. Amer's story described how his family fears daily violence and gunfire, but lack any hope that moving anywhere else in Baghdad would improve their plight.

The description of wanting to stay in their home, in their city, in their country, in the face of the danger and dying caused me to stop and reflect on the anguish that's been caused by this war.

When you compare the sacrifice being made by these Iraqis (and our troops) with the senseless and pathetic wrangling occurring in Washington, DC, it is enough to make you follow the advice of Howard Beale and go to your window and shout "I'm Mad As Hell... And I'm Not Going to Take it Anymore!"