Arland Fiske sees a difference between what servicemen tell him about Iraq and what he sees on TV.
His two grandsons, both Marines who have served in Iraq, tell him about rebuilding schools and power plants. What he hears and reads about in the media are the actions of terrorists.
But Fiske doesn't think President Bush's speech Tuesday night successfully convinced Americans that the U.S. is making progress in Iraq.
"I want to think that he's doing the best job he can," said Fiske, a 78-year-old retiree from Laporte, Minn. "I'm not sure he's persuading the American people."
Fiske, who said he was no political affiliation, thinks most people already have their minds made up.
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He was among users of The Forum's Real People Bank who sounded off with a variety of opinions after watching the president's 30-minute televised speech on the war on terror.
Jay Thunem of Moorhead said he was disappointed in the speech.
"It seemed to me like it was just kind of cheerleading us on to do more of the same," said Thunem, 67, who says he has no political affiliation. "It didn't give any kind of exit strategy or anything like that."
Connie Crull of Moorhead was struck by the president's resolve to finish the mission in Iraq.
She believes Bush's statement that the war is going OK because she also hears it from returning troops.
Crull, a 54-year-old Republican, said Iraqis must provide for their families, rebuild their lives and fight for their country. Eventually, she said, they will "decide the fight will have to come first or the rest won't happen."
Then foreign troops will be able to leave, perhaps in a couple of years, she said.
"I wish it was over," she said, "but I don't think we can leave the job undone or we will waste the lives already lost."
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John Davis, a Republican from McClusky, N.D., who watched parts of Bush's speech, said he believes the president has a good grasp of how to handle the war. He didn't hear a thing he disagreed with.
"I support (Bush). I support what he's doing, I support the troops, and I feel we're doing the enemy a service by some of the criticism that has been directed toward Bush," said Davis, 64.
Thunem said he doesn't think the war is going well, based on what he reads and hears. He thinks people will eventually realize it.
"We can't avoid it," Thunem said. "I'm just going to hang on and hope every thing turns out (well)."
Readers can reach Forum reporter Andrea Domaskin at (701) 241-5556
