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June 06, 2006

The Real Iraq

For anyone who has ever written me an email asking about what its really like over here, this is a must read.

Amir Taheri is the former executive editor of Kayhan, Iran's largest daily newspaper. He first visited Iraq in 1958, so I would hazzard to guess that he knows a little more about a country than our press barely knew existed before August 1990. However, he does understand many of the logistical and political problems that go into covering such a large topic.

It would be hard indeed for the average interested citizen to find out on his own just how grossly this image distorts the realities of present-day Iraq. Part of the problem, faced by even the most well-meaning news organizations, is the difficulty of covering so large and complex a subject; naturally, in such circumstances, sensational items rise to the top.

...

To make matters worse, many of the newsmen, pundits, and commentators on whom American viewers and readers rely to describe the situation have been contaminated by the increasing bitterness of American politics. Clearly there are those in the media and the think tanks who wish the Iraq enterprise to end in tragedy, as a just comeuppance for George W. Bush. Others, prompted by noble sentiment, so abhor the idea of war that they would banish it from human discourse before admitting that, in some circumstaces, military power can be used in support of a good cause. But whatever the reason, the half-truths and outright misinformation that now function as conventional wisdom have gravely disserved the American people.

He focuses on four details that I have never seen mentioned in any American analysis of the situation in Iraq (from the right, or the left):

1) 1.2 million refugees have returned to Iraq.

2) Religious pilgrims traveling to the holy Shiite shrines in Karbala and Najaf were almost non-existant from 1991 to 2003. In 2005, more pilgrims travelled to these two sites than Mecca and Medina.

3) The value of the Iraqi dinar has stablized and is growing with respect to other regional currencies, as well as internationally, although he admits that value is still difficult to determine.

4) Small and medium sized businesses in the private sector are flourishing. The economy is doing amazingly well. Doubling GDP in 1 year, inflation falling from 70% to 25%, unemployment falling from 60% to 30%.

These 4 are elaborated, and he goes into a lot of useful history, for example how to compare today's Iraq with its original constitutional monarchy.

He offers up 3 reasons why the US-lead multinational forces need to stay the course:

1) To discourage Iran and Syria.

2) To act as an arbiter (he says "traffic cop") between various factions until they learn that discussion and compromise are the most effective way to settle differences in a parliamentary democracy.

3) Complete the training of Iraq's new army and police.

I'm not going to go into much more detail because if you have read this far into my post, you are probably willing to read the entire piece, so please do. I will quote his conclusion because I believe he is correct:

Is Iraq a quagmire, a disaster, a failure? Certainly not; none of the above. Of all the adjectives used by skeptics and critics to describe today’s Iraq, the only one that has a ring of truth is “messy.” Yes, the situation in Iraq today is messy. Births always are. Since when is that a reason to declare a baby unworthy of life?

Posted by TJ at June 6, 2006 05:47 PM

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