Iraq the Model

I have recently been spending more time reading this Iraqi blogger to get a feel for what's going on and see if my impressions of what news is coming back are close to the truth or not. They may not represent all of Iraqis, but they are native and a better guide than probably our own troops or any imbedded journalist.
I found this quote by one of them very telling as to how ordinary Iraqis may feel about American troops in their country.

We all turned to see what he was pointing to, and we regained some of our confidence as we saw a convoy of several Hummer vehicles patrolling the area.
"They're not as cautious and afraid as we thought they would be. Here are they moving confidently" the driver said. "I don't think they'll stay here after sunset. The terrorists will take over the area at night" another passenger added.
I smiled and thought "we fear our countrymen while we feel safe when the foreigners are moving around! Who's the occupier? Who are the bad guys here?"

My emphasis.

We were also surprised to see that they took positions over the roofs of the near by buildings which made me say "they don't seem to be leaving after sunset, these are fixed stations". It was relieving also to see all the death slogans of the terrorists have been erased and replaced with the slogans of the real heroes, I saw slogans like:
"The terrorists destroyed the bridge and we have rebuilt it""
"Death to terrorism…long live the peace"
"Long live the heroes of the ING, the loyal sons of Iraq"

His emphasis.