An excellent commentary for thos here who don't want to hear the bad news from Iraq:

How to Change the News on Iraq

By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Saturday, October 25, 2003; Page A23

So is the Fox News Channel, television's most pro-Bush network, offering an especially negative view of what's happening in Iraq?

You might think so from a fascinating poll released this week by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. The pollsters took on a controversy the Bush administration started by asking respondents whether "news reports are making the situation in Iraq seem worse than it really is, better than it really is -- or are reports showing the situation about the way it really is?"

Overall, 38 percent of Americans thought the news was making the Iraqi situation seem worse than reality, 14 percent thought news portrayals were making things seem better, and 36 percent thought the reports were about right.

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KEY QUOTES:

"But there is another problem: You can always argue that a very bad situation is better than it looks. It always is. Human beings, even in the worst of times, try to go about their business and are quite heroic in their efforts to make life as normal as possible."

"So I am sure that some good things are happening in Iraq and that there are Americans there doing difficult jobs well. But right now, the news is not of what's normal. When U.S. soldiers get killed and wounded, when explosions rip through buildings, when Iraqi leaders and civilians are dying, that, alas, is the news."

"This news may contradict the optimistic predictions made by the administration, so I don't blame Bush or his supporters for not liking what they are seeing or reading. But changing the news won't change the situation. Improving the situation will change the news."