"One presidential visit to Baghdad is worth a thousand pathetic declarations of defeat from Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean or Ted Kennedy---none of whom has shown the least respect for the democratically elected and courageous leaders of reborn Iraq. Bush's visit forced the media to briefly stop whining about
the phony issues of Haditha and Gitmo and to acknowledge that Iraq has a free, functioning government. But for ambitious journalists, inventing or exaggerating American misdeeds will always be
more rewarding than telling the truth: Zarqawi's death was written off, while Haditha was written up. Still, glints of truth force their way through. And the truth is: We've got a president with guts; our efforts in Iraq are paying off, and their new government is far
more important to Iraqis than Gitmo or Haditha."
---Ralph Peters
Iraq has a free, functioning government?
ReplyDeleteIn a country with a free functioning government the lights work and roadside bombs don't kill innocent civilians.
In a country with a free functioning government people have safe drinking water and working sewers.
In a country with a free functioning government oil and gas pipelines flow 27/7/365.
In a country with a free functioning government religious leaders don't hire and deploy death squads.
In a country with a free functioning government people don't die because of where they go to church.
In a country with a free functioning government, government officials don't maintain and deploy death squads.
In a country with a free functioning government beheadings don't get posted to the Internet or TV.
In a country with a free functioning government the rule of law means police officers-- not soldiers-- keep order.
It may well be that Iraq has an elected government but "a country with a free functioning government" is hardly a discription of Iraq.
"It may well be that Iraq has an elected government but "a country with a free functioning government" is hardly a discription of Iraq."
ReplyDeleteIt's a better description of Iraq today than it is of most of the other Islamic states. Of that, there can be no doubt.
Ask yourself this:
Why have MILLIONS of Iraqi refugees been returning home since last year?
Why did more than 12 MILLION pilgrims visit the Iraqi holy shrines last year, making them the MOST VISITED shrines in all Islam? It's especially interesting, since pilgimages to the shrines dropped off to virtually nothing after the 1991 pogram by saddam against the Shiites.
why is the Iraqi dinar now significantly stronger than it was in Saddam's last days? Why is Iraqi agriculture now EXPORTING product for the first time in a half century?
And last, why the birth of free speech, with a large amount of new media sources leading the way?
Or maybe it's just all George Bush's fault.
You know people in this both Bloggingpoet and Bubba are correct in all their comments. It is a matter of seeing the glass half full or half empty. I guess tho I'm not as adamant as Bubba, I prefer seeing the glass half full. BB
ReplyDeleteblogginpoet, do you think the U.S. had all of those things in 1787 immediately after the Constitution was signed?
ReplyDeleteIt took us 10 years after we won the Revolutionary War to even get a Constitution, the Iraqi's did it in one year.
The real world is not a 60 minute TV program. National change takes years, not days. I'll bet you're one of those guys that looks at the stock market on a down day and concludes that the economy is going to hell, aren't you?