Good News from Iraq

Day after day we are subjected to network news reports on the horrible condition of Iraq. We hear about suicide bombings, and soldiers killed by roadside bombs almost every day. The impression that one gets from this coverage - which many times comes from journalists safely ensconced in their hotels who receive their information from their Iraqi translators, many of whom were former media minders for Saddam Gussein - is that the country is falling apart and that the US invasion unleashed this hell on Iraqis. Amir Taheri recently returned from a tour of Iraq and describes the real situation, something that we are unlikely to hear from mainstream news sources.

Iraq today is no bed of roses, I know. I have just come back from a tour of the country. But I don't recognise the place I have just visited as the war zone depicted by the Arab and western media.

It is true that Saddamite leftovers and their allies have stolen enough money and arms to continue their campaign of terror and disruption for some time yet. But they have no popular following and have failed to develop a coherent national strategy.
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There is also good news on the economic front. In the last quarter the dinar, Iraq's currency, has increased by almost 15% against the dollar and the two most traded local currencies, the Kuwaiti dinar and the Iranian rial.
Despite the continuing terrorist violence Iraq has attracted more than 7m foreign visitors...This year Iraq has had a bumper harvest with record crops, notably in wheat. It could become agriculturally self-sufficient for the first time in 30 years.
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Nor should one believe the claims of self-styled experts that the Iraqis are not ready for freedom. During the past 10 months elections have been held in 37 municipalities. In each case victory went to the moderate, liberal and secular candidates. The former Ba'athists, appearing under fresh labels, failed to win a single seat. Hardline Islamist groups collected 1% to 3% of the vote.

Taheri describes the possible reason why it is that we hear only bad news.

"We are coming out of the cold," says al-Ayyari. "The world should help us put our house in order." But this is precisely what many in the West, and the Arab world, won't do.

Having opposed the toppling of Saddam, they do not wish to see Iraq build a better future. Arab despots and their satellite television channels fear a democratic Iraq that could give oppressed people of the region dangerous ideas. The anti-American coalition in the West shudders at the thought that someone like Bush might put Iraq on the path of democratisation.

The Arab fear of democracy and the western disease of anti-Americanism mean that media coverage of Iraq is often focused on bad news.

In their hatred of Bush, the media provides a narrative that serves their view that the war and reconstruction of Iraq does not have popular support in the US. And by doing this they are influencing people to not support the war, as was evidenced in a few of the latest polls which show that a majority of the US no longer thinks that it was worth going to war. We can succeed in Iraq, but with the media creating so much doubt the task becomes much more difficult.