I am starting to get fed up. Fed up with the pessimism, the negativity and what seems to me a sub-conscious desire on the part of some people for this war to go badly.

Bill O'Reilly made some salient points in the beginning of his show last night. He said the NY Times was slanting the coverage of the war to fit with the view of its' editorial page. Here are the headlines that appeared on the same day on the front page of the Times:

"Iraqis Repel Copters; One Goes Down."

"GIs Regroup After Setback --Two Prisoners on Iraqi TV."

"Hussein Rallies Iraqi Defenders."

"The Goal Is Baghdad, but at What Cost?"

He contrasted that with the headlines from the Boston Globe:

"Coalition nearing Baghdad."

"War plan on course."

"Hunt for banned weapons."

"Strategy aims at heart of Hussein's rule."

Think about it. If reading the NY Times that day was the first time somebody read any coverage on this war, they would be led to believe that things were not going well, and it's absurd.

Coalition forces have suffered minimal casualties. There have been 20 or so killed in combat roles. I don't mean to casually dismiss the loss of these soldiers. There is no doubt that they have friends and family who love them and they will not be coming home alive, and that is a tragedy. But it does not mean we are suffering 'setbacks' or getting into a 'qaugmire.'

On the other side of that coin, coalition forces have killed over 1,000 Iraqi soldiers, and they have taken over 4,000 POW's. In less than one week, we are knocking on the door of Baghdad, have disrupted the Iraqi leadership and have taken over close to 75% of the country. The Iraqi military is so disorganized that they attempted to leave Bazra en masse during the daylight hours. One coalition officer described it as a "suicide mission." The Iraqi soldiers did not surrender, so they were attacked.

Part of the problem is the media immediately accepting anything a military 'analyst' has to say simply because the person used to be in the military. You know what? Contrary to popular opinion, soldiers can be biased like anybody else and it isn't out of the realm of possibility for them to allow that bias to get in the way of their analysis. Wesley Clarke has been making more media appearances these days as he tests the waters for a possible presidential run in 2004. He was critical of the administration. That traitor Scott Ritter, a former Marine has said the United States is going to lose this war. Granted, he is a more extreme example, but you can see what I am getting at.

We've been at this war for a week, and thus far, we have done everything we have set out to do. I think it is an insult to the men and women who are serving our country in Iraq to make it appear as though they are in trouble in this conflict.