...an order of Freedom Fries™ with that raw sewage?

Please tell us. Worse or better? This should be a huge, important question in our presidential election. Please tell us.

To me, so far, it seems obvious that the Glorious United States of America has made life in Iraq worse than it was under Saddam "Little Hitler" Hussein. Americans need to recognize this fact, and vote accordingly.

We need to judge our tree by the fruit it bears. And we need to make a big noise about it, and make it a big issue.

Where have all those billions and billions of dollars we borrowed from China gone?

But the purple fingers mean that they are free and Mr. Bush says that they are better off without Saddam in power so they must be doing great. Right?

The Idea of subjugating an entire country, enslaving its millions and draining a country of its entire resources to feed the profits of few multi-billion dollar rich men have failed spectacularly.

It succeeded in Phillipines in 1880s, in Indonesia in 1970s and 80s, Saudi Arabia even now, but failed in Iraq.

For the people in Iraq who face a literally life & death scenario each day, struggle to feed their family, and watch their children's future wither away, it is indeed a HUGE improvement.

After all they should be happy that their doors are not kicked in at nights, their families and wives being dragged out by soldiers at random, and living entirely in fear of when their lives would be forfeit.

They should be happy that they are not Vietnam in 1970s.

I find these mini-articles somewhat interesting, but mostly annoying. Anna, you can take a nice photograph, and you write well, but how about some more details, with more length and more context. Which Iraqi said "things are better"? What does he or she do for a living -- or what did he/she do before our arrival? What do the soldiers besides the one you quoted think? Or can they not speak openly? And if not, why not?

You're there in Iraq and I commend you for your courage. Since you're there, however, can't you provide more detail? What's happening one street over from this little scene? What do the people you see dress like, talk like, eat, drink? Or is there some sort of blackout on these details. If so, why?

That's why your articles are so annoying -- they bring up more questions than answers. If that's your point, great, you win. Still, I'd like more. Of everything.

Super sized. The entire bleak gang up on Capital Hill are headed there. Bleak.

Bleak is within the ones who never foresaw the sad and pathetic crime. Bleak.

Bleak is right. A few moments spent in contemplation pre-invasion. O` Bleak.

Bleak is the inner condition. It's manifest and visible for inspection. O` Bleak.

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When a sign reads : `Danger, no walk near here. Volts kill. Raw sewer. Bleak!

The Bush toadies always complain that we never hear about the "good news" from Iraq. Wonder what they'd say if they read this article. Sounds like we've really turned those peoples' lives around, huh? One person I was discussing this with argued that his brother who was a soldier in Iraq had told him his unit had just built a new school for some Iraqi children, but "you won't hear about that from the liberal media." Great, so 4,000 American soldiers die so we can build a school. Meanwhile schools in this country see their budgets shrink every year because no one wants to pay for them. But it's okay to build schools for children on the other side of the world. Whatever.

I enjoy reading these dispatches but it would have been nice if Anna had delved a little deeper in talking to Iraqis to eplain the seeming contradiction between what she observed and what the Iraqis say. Are they lying to the soldiers? Is it hope for the future that blinds them to today's realities? Are the Shiites realy happy to be no longer oppressed by Saddam that present conditions are worth the price that had to be paid?

The Idea of subjugating an entire country, enslaving its millions and draining a country of its entire resources to feed the profits of few multi-billion dollar rich men have failed spectacularly.

I disagree, the multi-billionaires have done exceedingly well out of Iraq.

The Iraqi people? Not so much.

But this was never about them in the first place.

For those craving more details of life, on the ground, in Iraq, you could do worse than reading Dahr Jamail's despatches. See http://dahrjamailiraq.com The BBC use his reports but somehow the US MSM ignores him. He tells it like it is, by interviewing Iraqis, without all the quotes from US soldiers. See link in sig.

Where all the rallies and banners and well wishing have produced such stellar results. Bottomline, 4/5ths of the world is a squalorous shithole and being there or not being there makes zero difference. The best thing we could have done in Iraq in 2003 was pull up the lawn chairs and wait for them to train their guns on each other.

While the economy is now the number one issue (and its poor performance is due to the war and the Bush Tax cuts); Iraq will still be a big issue. Just think if we are in Iraq for 100 years which was one of McCain’s estimates of how long we would be there we would have 45,729 deaths over the next 100 years or 1,829 deaths if it goes on for four years which McCain flip-flopped to after he checked the polling on the hundred year thing. Both of those will be none starters in November. (Estimates based on casually rates for the past 7 months which have held steady).

Poster Outrageous asked this question. Answer: take a look at Anna's piece from Tuesday, "Spoiled Milk." She wrote about clothing and food.

Her last three pieces make Baghdad appear: 1. Hellish, 2. Maybe Sort-Of Okay, 3. Hellish. She is giving us some looks at Baghdad-right-now. If her pieces were longer, many of us probably would not read them.

Please keep them coming, Anna. It is okay if you reserve judgment for a while.