Someone forgot to tell the U.N. the good news about Anbar

--Posted by guest blogger Pale Rider

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq issues reports. Here's exactly one day's assessment of the organization's status in Iraq, excerpted in two images.

UNAMI views Iraq through a matrix, numbered one to five, with four being Emergency Operations and five being Evacuation.

Notice they've "evacuated" Anbar province.

I thought Anbar was a success.

Now take a look at the second image from the same report. Again, this is the report dated September 20, 2007.

Notice anything about Anbar Province? The Security Risk Status is High, and has increased from the last report. Now, why is that? Why is the United Nations giving us such a dire assessment of the situation in Anbar Province? Why does this list show that attacks and security risks have increased, and why is it so bad that they have had to evacuate Anbar? Could it be someone, somewhere is lying? I'm sure the assorted wingnuts will tell us all sorts of bad things about the United Nations.

But look at the good news from this report--the extreme north and south of the country are only moderately dangerous. And ALL of the border crossings are wide open.

So, if we're to believe what we're being told--why does the UN feel Anbar is so dangerous they had to flee from it? And if we believe what we're told about the threat from Syria and Iran, why the hell are the border entry points wide open for travel?

--Pale Rider