The Daily Demarche, a "blog by members of the State Department Republican Underground - conservative Foreign Service Officers serving overseas commenting on foreign policy and global reactions to America," writes:

The "Paper of Record", late last week, ran an editorial entitled "Kosovo, Still Messy After All These Years" lamenting the failure of the U.N. efforts there to produce a lasting peace with real results. What I love about this piece is that when the U.N. is involved and six years have passed and there is nothing to show for it the results are "messy." When George Bush frees Iraq, successful elections are held and a constitution is overwhelmingly approved (and underwhelmigly reported) in a fraction of that time, the result is a "quagmire."

Obviously there is much less violence in Kosovo, but that is one more reason to expect more progress and an exit strategy from the UN and the European Union, which is also strongly involved in Kosovo and other parts of the Balkans. The author of the post, Dr. Demarche, continues to contrasts the Armed Forces TV news in contrast to the mass media's coverage of Iraq:

Our family and friends who visited were always astonished to see footage of soldiers and Marines handing out toys, aiding women and children, building schools and hospitals or just speaking with Iraqis who did not cower in fear or try to kill the hated Americans on site. They simply had no idea that for most troops, most of the time, violence was a rare thing.

Speaking of double standards: Davids Medienkritik compares Spiegel Online's German and English commentary on Iraq and concludes:

Cheap Anti-American Populism Sells Well in German: Not So Well in English.