. . . but what about the schools?

"Cook said it upsets him when the mainstream media only reports the negative news in Iraq and focus little attention on the good things Marines are doing, like rebuilding schools and giving toys to children."

Variations of the above talking point have been repeated ad nauseum by supporters of the Iraq war. The war's going well, they argue, but that pesky, negative-nelly, unpatriotic liberal mainstream media just won't report it.

After three years of steady use, however, the "we're building schools" talking point seems to have fallen out-of-use.

Perhaps it has something to do with this:

Iraqi education system on brink of collapse

Peter Beaumont in Baghdad
Wednesday October 4, 2006
The Guardian


An Iraqi man drops his children to school in Baghdad as guards look on. Photograph: Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty Images


Iraq's school and university system is in danger of collapse in large areas of the country as pupils and teachers take flight in the face of threats of violence.

Professors and parents have told the Guardian they no longer feel safe to attend their educational institutions. In some schools and colleges, up to half the staff have fled abroad, resigned or applied to go on prolonged vacation, and class sizes have also dropped by up to half in the areas that are the worst affected.

Read the rest.