To steal from Jim Treacher, "BUT EVERYTHING ISN'T INSTANTLY PERFECT!!!"

Typical snide, biased Reuters reporting.

Yep. I already wrote a brief commentary on the piece on OTB.

Susie says she is running Baghdad, although no one seems sure with what authority. She'll get back to you on that since she is busy consulting the U.S. invaders on invasion strategy and invasion tactics.

Susie is FOS.

I am running Baghdad. I have secured my place as supreme leader by carving new ancient statues out of pure obsidian and also by handing out free ice cream.

Typical mindless garbage from Reuters, looking for any angle to complain.

"And anyway, many Iraqis didn't even know their future was being discussed in a tent in the shadow of ancient Ur."

What the hell does that mean? This is such puerile drivel, with almost no value. No, everything is instantly perfect, nor will it be for a long time to come.

Here goes Fisk again;

Robert Fisk: For the people on the streets, this is not liberation but a new colonial oppression
America's war of 'liberation' may be over. But Iraq's war of liberation from the Americans is just about to begin

It's going wrong, faster than anyone could have imagined. The army of "liberation" has already turned into the army of occupation. The Shias are threatening to fight the Americans, to create their own war of "liberation".

The sooner we get the electricity back so the Iraqis can watch TV, the sooner we can get our messages out and people can know more about what's happening in their country. Not that this would slow Reuters down, of course - they would just lie, or write about something else.

Getting power and water back throughout the country would go a long way toward reducing discomfort and tension, and would help undermine anyone trying to exploit the temporary dislocations of civil life.

Look at it this way - it shows that ours is not the only nation with a bunch of vocal four-year-olds screaming that they want ice cream and they want it NOW, no waiting for a drive to the store.

Chanting now heard the streets of Baghdad:

"With our hearts, our lives, we'll die for you, Susie!"

Susie, that's your cue to blast off a few rounds from your balcony! ;)

Susie. cue.
Susie cue.
Susie Q.
that'd make a great song. . .

Well now...jingoism aside, just who is running Iraq? ("Tommy Franks" doesn't count.)

Truth is, somebody needs to be seen to be governing the place. The U.S. can't wait until the very last Saddam sympathizer has been eliminated and no hostile fire has been heard or seen for weeks.

Presumably, the U.S. will run the place as the occupying power until an Iraqi-based interim government is ready to go. Unless the Penagon expects that interim government to be operating in the next couple of weeks, we need to make a big splash about the occupation government: Who is it, where is it, what can they do?