I just returned from a talk given by Gordon Robison, Senior Fellow at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Director of the Middle East Media Project at USC's Center for Public Diplomacy. Currently based in Amman, Jordan, he has worked in Baghdad for both CNN and Fox News. For four months in 2003-2004 he ran the news department at Iraqi television as a contractor for the Coalition Provisional Authority.

Robison was not at all optimistic about the situation in Iraq. In response to a question about whether the situation on the ground was better or worse than what was being reported in America, Robison answered that it is much worse (remember, this guy worked for Fox News). He also let the audience know that, in his opinion, the Civil War in Iraq has already begun and has been waged since the first blowup in Fallujah eight months ago. Oy.