Not making news lately is the fact that things are going well in some places. That should be news but it isn’t. Anyway, US forces have handed control of the mainly Shia province of Karbala in central Iraq today to the Iraqi government. That makes 8 out of 18. That’s good news.
At the ceremony, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the country had been slow to rebuild its security forces this way . . .
Allow me to say that we are late, very late, to reconstruct, to rebuild our forces for reasons that I do not want to mention here.
That’s an understatement, but honest nonetheless. The BBC reporter has him saying this year would be the year of Iraqi security while next year the focus would turn more towards reconstruction. al-Maliki also said that he expects the country’s southernmost province, Basra, to be handed over in December 2007.
FOX reports al-Maliki also said this. . .
This is the proof of the strong will and resolve of the good citizens of this nation… The reconstruction of Iraq does not hinge on security alone, but security is the key to everything.
Violence levels falling is the subtitle in the story. And after 12 full paragraphs of attack-related news, the story ends with this line . . .
But our correspondent says levels of violence have generally been falling since a US troop surge began in February.
What, you mean you haven’t seen the surge reported this way before? Neither have I.
says he is “deeply disappointed” that he was