The Pentagon wanted the media to ignore all the death and destruction and focus on positive stories like schools opening?

Well, they asked for it…

“In almost every case, the paint jobs were done in a hurry, causing more damage to the appearance of the school than in terms of providing a finish that will protect the structure,” a recent Army investigation into Bechtel’s work found. “In one case, the paint job actually damaged critical lab equipment, making it unusable.”

We’re winning hearts and minds here, folks, let’s not get caught up in the details of usable classrooms! Even the good news in Iraq sucks.

[When I ran this post through a spellchecker “Halliburton”’s suggested spelling was “Halfhearted”]