Iraq update

http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/iraq/articles/20070524.aspx

The Iraq story you won't be reading in your morning paper/hearing on your radio/watching on you TV news bulletin:

'The search, for the three American soldiers taken by terrorists after an ambush on May 12th, has involved 6,000 troops (two thirds of them American) in the Baghdad suburbs. The action has been much more aggressive than usual, because of the urgency factor. Since there have been no terrorist videos of the soldiers on the Internet, it is assumed that they are either dead, or held by terrorists who are on the run and being pressed by the search operation. Over a thousand Iraqis have been arrested so far, and two of them admitted they were part of the ambush team (but not the group that took away the three U.S. soldiers.) While many of the tips indicate the troops are still alive, it's more likely they are dead. Yesterday, the body of one of the missing soldiers was found in the Euphrates River, south of Baghdad. The searching troops are taking more casualties, but they are tearing up terrorist and criminal operations in the area. Actually, most of the bad guys caught so far have been common criminals, who are often eager to tell what they know in return for a "get out of jail" card. American military commanders and diplomats continue to remind Iraqi politicians that the biggest problem in the country is corruption. That's hard for many Iraqis to accept, since stealing whatever-you-can-get-your-hands-on has been a tradition for so long. Many Iraqis assume it's the natural order of things, and consider the Americans insane, or disrespectful, with all their talk of honest government. The message, however, is getting through, as it becomes obvious that Iraqs new democracy won't work with the traditional Iraqi attitudes towards dishonesty in politics. This new attitude is being reflected in many ways. There are more corruption investigations, arrests and prosecutions. The corruption is still there, but it's becoming politically incorrect. Meanwhile, everyone is getting more patriotic. It's no longer cool to take orders from Iran. So Muqtada Al Sadr, and his Mahdi army, are becoming less a tool of Iran, and more a mainstream Iraqi political movement. Sadr is even sitting down and cutting deals with Sunni Arab politicians. At the same time, the Mahdi Army is being purged of factions that don't go along with the new peace and reconciliation approach. Those radical factions are still killing Sunni Arabs, while Sunni Arabs and al Qaeda continue to slaughter Shia Arabs. This is not popular with Iraqis in general, and the terrorists are increasingly seen as a public menace that all Iraqis must unite to destroy.'

I don't know who writes for Strategypage.com but it must be guys working for Military Intelligence or a US government secret agency. All I know is, what you read there will appear partially and without meaningful context about six weeks later in some of the mainstream media. Mainstream media= not fit for purpose.