In a recent conversation with Col. Ferrari, who does security planning for CJTF-7, I asked a rather open ended question. “What is the story that is not being told? What story should the press be getting out there?” He answered without hesitation: “The untold story is the story of the American soldier.” He then rattled off with pride how soldiers are doing things in the field that they were never trained to do, and are doing them well. They are running police academies which train the new Iraqi police force. They have acted as de-facto mayors, getting the municipal services up and running, and hearing grievances from the locals.

And they are doing it with high morale. When they came to Iraq, they saw how the infrastructure had been stripped to the bone. They have seen the progress, and are generally optimistic about the prospects for Iraq in the future. That is the untold story of Iraq, and it is one that we will be bringing you in the coming months.