Hot Air bloggers Michelle Malkin and Bryan Preston returned from Iraq and have filed some rather interesting reports.  The first comes in the form of a video with nationalistic Iraqis who are encouraged to bring about peace to the entire Middle East.

The most interesting comment in the video, or so I thought, was that Palestinians could only unite behind Saddam Hussein.  Now that Saddam is gone, they are fighting amongst theirselves. The issue of Palestine is, I believe, much more complex than that, but it’s an interesting take.

The second Hot Air feature is a report on the children of Iraq and the basic economy.  A short excerpt:

The kids kept coming up to me and yelling what to my untrained ear sounded like “tomba, tomba!” I had no idea what they were asking me until one of our interpreters explained that they were saying “ball.” Pretty soon I heard one kid say “fut bol” and then it clicked–they want soccer balls. These kids have nothing. No PS3. No Wii or Nintendo DS (though a few do have pirated satellite dishes, and televisions powered by illegally tapping into the power lines overhead. MacGyver would be proud of the ingenuity on display here). They just want a ball to kick around in the dirt and chase around with their friends. It just about broke my heart to explain that I didn’t have a soccer ball to give them. Not that they understood a word I was saying. They just kept mugging for the camera.

They’re beautiful kids. To look at them away from Skut if you could, you might not even think that they’re dirt poor. They look healthy, they’re perfectly groomed and they have that boundless energy that all kids have and all adults wish they had. When you see them you’ll want to adopt half of them and make sure the other half get a good home with a solid family. But the truth is, they have good families and they’re living with them. They are just the unfortunate and innocent victims of tyranny and war. Their parents need jobs and money and security from terrorists, insurgents and the militias and death squads. The kids need a chance to get educations and get on the path to better lives out of the slums. They’re free of Saddam’s hated rule now, but they’re trapped by centuries of culture and decades under a madman’s bloody boot.

Read the full column.  It continues to amaze me why no national media outlet has reported similar stories as this type of story fills all of the desired rules to go to print.  I suppose that’s what happens when you’re perched in a hotel sifting through reports of bombings, knowing that here in the United States, violence sells.  That’s the easy way out, and it’s also what our culture thirsts for and purchases.