Instapundit leads us to another soldier's letter giving an unsurprisingly different view of what the occupation looks like to someone who's actually participating in it:

The pessimists would have you believe this is a disaster. Don't listen to them. I think some of them feel that their reputations require our failure because they have been so negative all along, so they are jumping at every opportunity to sensationalize what is happening here as a disaster.

From my own very personal experience I can say the pessimists don't just live in Big Media. Read the whole thing while I go grab my pom-poms.