Muscatine

By and large, Iraq is better off today
By Amir Taheri

From Iraqupdates.com
28 November 2007 (Gulf News)

''A torrent of good news!''

This is how The New York Times (NY Times??? Oh no; Joe...say it isn't so!)has described latest reports from Iraq that indicate a significant fall in the level of violence there.

Here is some good news:

- More than 70 per cent of the cells created by Al Qaida in Iraq have been dismantled and vast amounts of money and arms seized from terrorists and their insurgent allies.

- The so-called Islamic State in Iraq, set up by Al Qaida in parts of four provinces, has collapsed and many of its principal leaders, including two so-called ''ministers'', have been arrested.

--Iraqis who had sought temporary refuge in neighbouring countries are returning home in large numbers. By the latest count an average of 1000 each day are returning from Syria alone.

--Thanks to mediation by Abdulaziz Al Hakim, leader of the Shiite coalition, the three groups that had withdrawn from Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki's coalition government are expected to return to the fold.

--The handover of Basra by the British forces to Iraqi authorities has been completed without a hitch and Iraq's second largest city is rapidly returning to normal.

--Iraqi oil production is at its highest since 2002. Last week, Oil Minister Hussain Shahrestani notified the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries that Iraq intends to produce its full quota next year.

--There is a rush of applications to set up small and medium businesses. In Baghdad alone, the figure for October was 400, compared to 80 last August.

- The fourth American university in the Arab world, and the first in Iraq, has started work in Suleymanieh, close to the Iranian border.

Iraq?

How about the U.S.? Give your statistics to the families of those who lost loved ones there.

Give your statistics to those who think this war was a bad idea. A MAJORITY of Americans. (68% according to a CNN/USA Today poll released Nov 8th). It doesn't matter which news network you get your information from. None of them can paint a pretty picture of our views on this war.

Good for Iraq...not so much for the U.S.

Rebuild another country, destroy your own?

Bush should be SO proud.

As always, though, thanks for your input.

Lil

This is too funny

Just recently, bigbrother was implying (see here, here, and here) that we couldn't trust the media to tell us the truth and now here he is repeating something from that dreaded liberal rag theNew York Times as though it's gospel. What's the matter, bigbrother? I thought you were all about questioning things. Oh, wait... that's only if it doesn't fit with your preferred narrative. But, since this story makes the White House look good, it must be true, right? Too funny, bigbrother. Too funny.

Unlike bigbrother, however, I will at least comment on the content of the post. This is all great news for both the United States and Iraq. However, I'm going to wait a while before I really believe this to be anything more than a temporary lull in the violence.

Why, you ask? Is it because I'm just a liberal who hates America and wants to see George W. Bush humiliated? No, it's because I read the news. In particular, this little tidbit of news from back in August:

British commanders in Basra reacted cautiously last night to a claim by the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr that he has ordered his militia to suspend offensive operations for six months.

[...]

''I direct the Mahdi army to suspend all its activities for six months until it is restructured in a way that helps honour the principles for which it is formed,'' Sadr said in a statement issued by his office in the nearby city of Najaf.

Even the US military stated that this could lead to a reduction in the violence.

''Muqtada al-Sadr's declaration holds the potential to reduce criminal activity and help reunite Iraqis separated by ethno-sectarian violence and fear,'' the U.S. military said.

[...]

An end to Mehdi Army ''would also be an important step in helping Iraqi authorities focus greater attention on achieving the political and economic solutions necessary for progress and less on dealing with criminal activity, sectarian violence, kidnappings, assassinations, and attacks on Iraqi and coalition forces,'' the military said.

So let's see... six months from August... That puts us at the end of February. So you'll have to excuse me, but I'll wait until then to really judge how well things are actually going in Iraq. I don't think we've really seen the ''political and economic solutions necessary for progress'' yet. Remember that oil revenue bill that was supposed to solve everything? Where is it?

So yes, it's good news, but I'm going to wait a few months before I start declaring anything like ''Mission Accomplished.'' I would advise others (psst.. I mean you, Georgieboy) to do the same.

Good news always welcome


But this is premature. Violence is still at 2005 levels. Those we have armed have stated they will not accept the current government. Shia are worried about the Sunnis we have armed. And 4 million Iraqis are still displaced and exiled.

So, while good news is welcome, it is only prudent to be mindful of the problems still before us.