WHY YOU HAVE TO GET BEYOND THE HEADLINES.

But others maintain that despite the almost daily reports of attacks on U.S. forces, the good being done in Iraq outweighed the bad -- even before the reports of the demise of Qusay and Uday.

"We have made progress, steady progress, in restoring hope in a nation beaten down by decades of tyranny," President Bush said Wednesday. He said 19 nations were providing more than 13,000 troops "to help stabilize Iraq" and that additional help "will soon arrive."

A new Iraq governing council made its first debut at the United Nations this week. City councils are being created, as is an initial economic agenda for the country.

Coalition forces have cleared land mines from the vital southern port of Um Qasr (search ) and opened it for business.

Oil fields are up and running. Bank robberies aren't plaguing the country. Hospitals now have much-needed medicine, and more than half of the Iraqi schools are open again. Water is running in many parts of the country and more than half of Baghdad has electricity.