I don't believe that everything is peaches and cream in Iraq, but the notion rooted firmly in the public's conciousness that the situation is hopeless is certainly not correct either. Though the terrorists began the post-war period with many advantages -- hidden weapon stores, money, support networks and a command structure -- these are being systematically dismantled and destroyed. Each attack they make weakens them, and each day those they oppose grow stronger. They can't win, yet the press continues to root for them. They trumpet their successful atrocities, and bury or ignore their many failures. Someday, when Iraq is a thriving, free nation, I hope they have the awareness to feel ashamed of themselves for what they did.

An interesting experiment recently took place in Iraq seeking to uncover a rarely explored aspect of life in the country, writes Jeff Jacoby: "How would Iraq appear if we saw it through not the reporting of Western journalists, but the candid testimony of Iraqis themselves? American reporters accustomed to freedom and the rule of law experience Iraq today as a place of danger and violence. Iraqis who lived under Saddam were accustomed to tyranny, cruelty, and secret police. What do they make of their country today?"

To find out, three Americans (two film-makers and a former Marine) distributed 150 digital video cameras to ordinary Iraqis, asking them to record anything they consider worthwhile and then pass the cameras on to others. The resulting 450 hours of footage from 2,000 Iraqis was distilled into an 80-minute documentary "Voices of Iraq". As Jacoby writes, the documentary "is by turns heartbreaking, exhilarating, and inspiring. The war and its destruction is never far from the surface... But bad as the war is, the horror it ended -- Saddam's 24-year reign -- was worse... Yet for all they have been through, Iraqis come across as incredibly optimistic, hopeful, and enthusiastic. And above all, normal."