CNN's Reconciliation With Reality

CNN is attempting to make a concession without appearing completely discredited for all the shoddy reporting of doom and gloom over the past year.  CNN cameras poked in and out of neighborhoods, especially after a "flashy" event, to keep up the illusion of a desperate Iraq. 

Despite the coverage, and despite CNN, things have changed in Iraq over the past year and there simply is no denying it.  I have no problem with critical reporting, unfortunately, all too often, CNN stacked the cards against the efforts in Iraq and stopped reporting the news in order to start dictating it. 

more to come...

(CNN) -- A year after President Bush ordered nearly 30,000 additional U.S. troops into Iraq, American and Iraqi officials said there has been a drop in violence and some baby steps toward political reconciliation, but they see no cause for celebration.

   

A U.S. soldier patrols an Iraqi neighborhood in an area west of Baghdad earlier this month.

"There have been significant steps forward. There's been quite a bit of progress against al Qaeda in Iraq and against other extremist elements," said Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, speaking in an interview last week with a radio station.

"But having said all that, again I want to be very cautious upfront and note that there's nobody here doing victory dances in the end zone or talking about 'turning the corner' or 'seeing lights at the end of the tunnel,' " Petraeus said. "There's still a lot of hard work still to be done."

   Bush announced his deployment plan in January 2007 aimed at stopping the violence long enough for Iraq's Sunnis and Shiite leaders to work out some kind of power-sharing agreement.