Once again, the admirable Amir Taheri restores some much needed balance and perspective to the picture of unrelieved gloom the media feed us about the situation in Iraq. Yes, the continued terrorism there is very troubling indeed. But this is by no means the whole picture. As Taheri observes:

'The most important is that post-liberation Iraq, defying great odds, has succeeded in carrying out its political reform agenda on schedule. A governing council was set up at the time promised. It, in turn, created a provisional government right on schedule. Next, municipal elections were held in almost all parts of the country. Then followed the drafting of a new democratic and pluralist constitution. Then came the formal end of the occupation and the appointing of a new interim government.

'Earlier this month, the political reconstruction program reached a new high point with the convening of the National Congress. Bringing together some 1,300 men and women representing all ethnic, religious, linguistic, and political groups, the congress was the first genuinely pluralistic assembly of Iraqis at that level. The congress performed its duty by creating a 100-member Parliament with wide powers of oversight and control over the interim government. A close examination of the composition of this new interim Parliament shows that it is the most representative political body ever to take charge of Iraq's destiny. The formation of the interim Parliament, which will be at the heart of the nation's politics during the next 15 months or so, is a major step toward creating the institutions of democracy. The Parliament's tasks include the holding of elections for a constituent assembly, the supervision of a referendum on that constitution, and general elections to pick a new government; all that before the end of next year.

'The events mentioned above, and largely ignored by the media, indicate a remarkably rapid progress toward democratization in Iraq. And, yet, at every step we had countless doomsayers who predicted that this or that step would not be taken because of "security problems." '

And those doomsayers now pretend such progress hasn't happened, to conceal the fact that, if they'd had their way, none of it would have happened and Iraq would still be in the grip of tyranny.

Posted by melanie at September 9, 2004