Good news in Iraq: "Things are improving..."

Is it possible? Are we turning the corner in Iraq? If we are, you won't read about it in the SF Bay Guardian---or even in the SF Chronicle. But you can read about it on a blog written by an Iraqi exile: http://iraqpundit.blogspot.com/.

A representative entry:

Sunday, November 04, 2007
Inconvenient Civilians

Recently, I've been puzzled by the reactions of friends or colleagues who ask after my family in Baghdad. When I reply that the relatives say things are getting better, I hear: "Better than what?" I also get strange looks and laughter. So, I remain quiet.

In a way, I can't blame them. Most friends and colleagues get their information from rented experts (whether American or Arab) who know nothing about Iraq. And stories such as this get little play in the media.

The Associated Press reports: "In a dramatic turnaround, more than 3,000 Iraqi families driven out of their Baghdad neighborhoods have returned to their homes in the past three months as sectarian violence has dropped, the government said Saturday."

The story does say that "Part of the inflow can be attributed to stiffening of visa and residency procedures for Iraqis by the Syrian government." Of course that is true. The visa and residency rules are either difficult or impossible for most Iraqis who fled to Jordan, Syria, Egypt, etc.

Still, the AP interviews an Iraqi man who returned to work managing a car service. He says that "relatives and friends persuaded him to bring his family home."

The 40 year-old Iraqi told that reporter: "'Six months ago, I wouldn't dare be outside, not even to stand near the garden gate by the street. Killings had become routine. I stopped going to work, I was so afraid,' he said, chatting with friends on a street in the neighborhood."

I know that many don't get why Iraqis are relieved when our families tell us things are improving. It's one of the weirdest aspects of the Iraq conflict. And I must admit that it doesn't sit well with me when people reject any hints of normality for ordinary Iraqis. To be honest, I've tried to understand their side. I really have. But any way I look at it, they're telling me that Iraqi civilians don't matter; it's all about the Bush administration for them. So for political reasons, they want Iraq to fail. Thanks for your, er, support, friends.

If what Iraq Pundit says is true, this could mean big trouble for the Democrats a year from now. Yes, the overwhelming majority of people in the US are opposed to the war in Iraq, and President Bush's approval ratings are now at an all-time low. But if security in Baghdad and the rest of Iraq continues to improve in the coming months, eventually this reality will be reflected in the US media. 

The political implications of an actual US "victory" in Iraq, however limited, could be enormous for US politics. For openers, since all the leading Republican candidates have steadfastly supported the war, whoever wins the Republican nomination will be able to say, "I told you so! We are winning the war in Iraq in spite of the Democrats, including my opponent, who all wanted to cut and run when the going was tough." And the hated George W. Bush will be seen as a latter-day Harry Truman who stubbornly stuck to the right course in Iraq when everyone else---including many Republicans---vilified him.

An interesting comment on Iraq Pundit by Jabba the Tutt about western leftists:

Iraqpundit, I'd like to tell you about the Western Leftist. It's not that they have something against Iraq or Iraqis...Western Leftists are narcissists. It is all about them. It is all about their need to feel morally superior to everyone else...Iraqis are simply props. They don't care about you. They deny your essence as a human being. All that matters to the Western Leftist is their own feelings, their own feelings of their own moral superiority.

It does not matter the cost in human life. They deny the essence of humanity of anyone outside of their own brains. You can see this in their claims that the terrorists were created by America's bumbling foreign policy and imperialism. They deny that other people can take actions and have beliefs due to their own choices. To the Western Leftist, people only act in response to action by the West or by America. The Taliban was created by American support in the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. Osama was invented by the CIA. The terrorists only blew people up in mosques or markets because of American imperialism. Bush blew up the World Trade Center.

The Western Leftist is so self-centered, so narcissistic that the rest of humanity are only objects to be manipulated in their own emotional theater of moral superiority. Of course, anyone who is a normal human being looks at this perversity and is mostly stunned. Normal people cannot understand how people can become like this.

Unfortunately, the Western Leftist message is sent out far in excess to their numbers, because there are so many in the Western Media. But they don't represent the West or the population of the West. Bush was elected twice, Merkel and Sarkozy have been elected. All you can do from Iraq is to expose the inhumanity of the Western Leftist. It's very tough, because they dominate the media. But you see, your message is getting thru on the internet.