One week before Gen. David Petraeus is expected to give his report on U.S. progress in Iraq, CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric says she has already seen dramatic improvements in the country.

 

"We hear so much about things going bad, but real progress has been made there in terms of security and stability," Couric said Tuesday. "I mean, obviously, infrastructure problems abound, but Sunnis and U.S. forces are working together. They banded together because they had a common enemy: al Qaeda."

 

Couric traveled to the city of Fallujah in Anbar province, which U.S. forces entered in April 2003 and again in November 2004. That is the same city where, in house-to-house fighting, American forces uncovered nearly two-dozen torture chambers.

 

"We found numerous houses, also, where people were just chained to a wall for extended periods of time," U.S. military intelligence officer Major Jim West said back on Nov. 22, 2004.

 

"The face of Satan was here in Fallujah, and I'm absolutely convinced that that was true," said Marine Lt. Col. Gareth Brandl.

 

It is also the city where four American military contractors were set on fire, mutilated and hanged from a bridge by insurgents.

 

Now Fallujah is "considered a real role model of something working right in Iraq," Couric said.

 

Many more Iraqis have joined the Iraqi Security Forces in the overwhelmingly Sunni Anbar province. Despite mutual distrust, stemming from the power shift after Saddam Hussein's Baathist government fell, Sunnis and Shiites are working together in the ISF to fight al Qaeda in Iraq.

 

While Hussein was in power, Sunnis were in positions of authority over the Shiites, and now are fearful that the majority of Shiites will seek revenge. Iraqi Shiites fear a return of Sunni power in Iraq.

 

However, Sunnis in Anbar continue to join the ISF.

 

"The spike in police has really been significant," Couric said. "The incidents in Iraq have gone down dramatically."

 

Security and stability have improved in Iraq, but basic services remain in disrepair.

 

"I think everyone I talk to agrees that restoring basic services is really an imperative step in bringing stability and some kind of sense of society to Iraq," Couric said.

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_247203227.html

 

I don't think Couric is an expert, but someone who has seen it in person and not involved with the millitary or a political agenda is very interesting.

Pure publicity ploy. She's failed miserably and is now going to try to carve out her niche in the hopes of saving her career. So she makes amends with conservatives she's alienated for years. I don't believe their's a single drop of sincerity in this statement.

She's hardly the only one saying this but she is the first public newscaster to come out and say things like this.

 

I probably shpuldn't have posted it because it will lead to the same rhetoric and bulls*** as usual in here but I thought people might find this interesting as I did.

She's hardly the only one saying this but she is the first public newscaster to come out and say things like this.

 

I probably shpuldn't have posted it because it will lead to the same rhetoric and bulls*** as usual in here but I thought people might find this interesting as I did.

I mean it is interesting just as it was interesting when NBC was the only news station willing to call Iraq a civil war, but maybe I've just become too cynical but it's hard for me to believe a woman who's alienated conservatives for years is now kissing up to them. It just seems odd to me it coincides when she's on the bottom for the first time in her career.

The success in Al-Anbar province is actually a good reason for us to get out of Iraq.

 

Why?

 

Because rather than use purely military tactics to secure that area, the military commanders were able to negotiate a political settlement and agreement where the Sunni-dominated region would go after Al Qaeda, if the US would step down their military presence. Cooperation between the tribal leaders of the region and our military brass has led to a relatively calm

 

It is good that Al-Anbar province has calmed down somewhat, but the surge that began in February has focused on Baghdad and the areas closer to the city.

 

I think the biggest problem that happened in Iraq recently was that gigantic car bombing attack in Northern Iraq, a relatively calm area, that killed 250-300 people last month.