Joel Hefley: “a reporter from a major news organization in the United States who is now stationed in Iraq made the statement the other…”

“a reporter from a major news organization in the United States who is now stationed in Iraq made the statement the other day that if he wrote a single story that was positive about what was going on in Iraq, he would have to fight with his editor to get it published. Is it any wonder that we have such a negative attitude in America about the war and the way it is going? I think it is time for a little reality. During the last week of November, 526 insurgents were detained or killed and 104 weapons caches were discovered during 355 combined operations. And in those operations, 30 percent of them were conducted independently by Iraqi security forces. As of November 16, 2005, a total of 211,700 Iraqi security forces have been trained and equipped. The number includes 99,500 Ministry of Defense forces and 112,200 Ministry of Interior forces. Thirty Iraqi Army battalions have assumed primary control of their own areas; and on and on it goes, Mr. Speaker. There is a lot of good news out of Iraq, and we ought to begin to listen to it. ____________________”