I’m watching Major General Rick Lynch (who I work for) doing a live press conference on the Pentagon Channel right now, wherein he suggested that the violence in Iraq is being overstated, and the the Coalition thinks the number of attacks and murders is much lower than what has been reported thus far. He suggested that the insurgency/terrorists are manipulating the media to make the situation sound worse than it is.
People are certainly scared and violence has definitely happened. But full scale civil war doesn’t seem likely at all at this juncture. Some reports are saying the curfew that has been in effect the last two days is helping. Others are saying things are still out of control. Not from where I am standing. Iraq is still plagued by evildoers, and sectarian violence is still an endemic problem. But there is hope, despite the fact that violence sells better on your local nightly news show. We need more merchants of hope in Iraq.