April 07, 2004
It's in the P-I

Today's editorial in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

U.S. forces and coalition partners now face the challenge of showing strength and quelling an insurrection, all while trying to convince the people of Iraq that there's hope for the future.
As I mentioned earlier, a public opinion poll taken only a few weeks ago indicated that 70% of Iraqis answered that "things are going good today" and the same percentage also responded that "they thought their lives would be better a year from now."

Unlike the folks at P-I headquarters, it sounds like most Iraqis have already been convinced there's hope for the future.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at April 07, 2004 08:30 AM
Comments

besides hope, what else do they have?

Posted by: dinesh on April 7, 2004 09:18 AM

Well, Dinesh, for one thing they have a hell of a lot less relatives disappearing into unmarked mass graves under extremely painful circumstances.

And their oil resources are no longer lining the pockets of UN fonctionnaires and every other crook on the take.

Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on April 7, 2004 11:00 AM

well, there's a lot of fighting left to be done unfortunately. and while the iraqis may not lose relatives to saddam the tyrant, it appears there exist many others who aspire to that vacant position, and may well fight and kill innocents to get there.

as for the oil money going to crooks--well, to quote pete townshend "meet the new boss, same as the old boss." oil money never seems to be clean. have you any accounting of the iraqi oil revenues? i know that the un 'food for oil' program was a debacle, i just don't know what has taken its place.

d

Posted by: dinesh on April 7, 2004 01:54 PM

Willful ignorance is no excuse. There's been plenty of news about the diversion of the Iraqi oil revenues, including the names of firms and individuals who received the benefits. Write your Congressional representative to pursue a fine-tooth audit of the UN's oil-for-palaces program.

And even with this hopeless uprising inspired by al-Sadr & Co., the rate of civilian casualties is microscopic by comparison with Saddam's routine exploits.

Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on April 7, 2004 04:19 PM
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