It's good to see that just as the Iraqis appear to be making strides towards wresting their country from the hands of terrorists, Arthur Chrenkoff is winning his war to make sure that good news makes it out of Iraq.

As you may know, Chrenkoff has tirelessly produced his "Good News From..." series of roundups of the positive stories from Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Middle East that go uncovered by the regular media. With Terry Schiavo as the focus of the news, you may have missed this story in (gasp!) the New York Times, featuring not only positive news from Baghdad, but even, yes, a positive headline: "There Are Signs the Tide May Be Turning on Iraq's Street of Fear." I have no doubt that the Times will be all over the next bit of bad news from Baghdad, so read it while you can.

In particular, what seems to have Times reporter John Burns willing to put a positive spin on the situation is the diminishment of attacks (i.e. "fewer attacks = we're winning.") On the front lines, blogger Lt. Currie suggests this may be as excessively simplified as the old view ("attacks = we're losing"):

Since we arrived in AO B’dad, insurgent activity has dropped off to almost nothing. Not that we have done such a stellar job at hunting the enemy that they have decided to give up and go back to whatever country they came from. No, I sincerely don’t think that we are so lucky. They, the “terrorists” (a word I grow in increasingly weary of hearing) are not throwing in the towel; they are now waiting just as we are waiting. We have indeed moved into the next stage of this after-war...

What I see here is real honest to God progress. We are rebuilding the infrastructure from the ground up. This nation is standing on its own two feet now, as an infant would. So, there will be set backs, and Iraq may fall on its bum from time to time, but like a growing child, eventually will walk on its own.

In that vein, (while I've got your attention on the country where Lt. Currie and 150,000 other fine men and women are fighting for freedom) here's a good example of Iraqis ordinary standing on their own two feet:

Baghdad Shopkeepers and Residents Trade Gunfire With Masked Insurgents, Killing Three of Them: Gunbattles erupted out in the streets of the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Doura, where militants wearing black hoods and riding in three cars opened fire on people shopping on a main street. Shopkeepers and residents returned fire, killing three assailants. A man, woman and child were injured and taken to a hospital.

Not much in the way of details. The Lebanon Daily Star report editorializes that this is the "latest indication of the Wild West atmosphere" in Iraq. Yep, complete with posses to go after the bad guys.