Things are going great in Iraq, the wingnuts would have us know. Bad things? It's all media spin! Why, we saw Dan Rather on TV and traffic was moving normally behind him!

Idiots. I grew up in a wartorn country, so I have some first-hand knowledge as to how these things work. Do people think modern guerilla war is fought in WWI-style threnches?

Shit, 99 percent of the time, things are normal. People carry on their daily routines, going to work (if they are lucky to have a job), buying food at the market, hanging out with friends, even partying at night. Then, for a few terrifying seconds, all hell breaks loose.

The measure of whether things are going well or not is not to highlight that normalcy, but to assess the damage of the attacks. How many people are dying. What's the cost to the nation's infrastructure?

In Iraq, the UN has started a partial pullout, while the agency's security wing advocates for a complete pullout. The nation's infrastructure is in shambles. Members of its leadership council are targeted for assassination (sometimes successfully). Our soldiers remain under attack, with 2 more dead and 10 wounded today alone. And we're spending money, money, money when we can least afford to do so.

But whatever. Let the wingnuts claim things are all peachy. The country is no longer buying.