Good News from Iraq

Today the Economist hides a fairly positive Iraqi government story under a negative headline, "Two months on, still no Iraqi government." The story describes Iraq's new political difficulties while the parliament tries to put together Iraq's new government.

After about 20 minutes of angry discord, the parliament's acting speaker ejected the watching media from the chamber and Iraq's state television, which had been beaming the proceedings, suddenly cut to a music concert. At this point, the interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi (whose Iraqi List did poorly in the election but may yet join a coalition government) got up and walked out. Across Baghdad, indignant Iraqis asked each other if this was what they had defied the insurgents on election day to achieve.

Although it sounds a little crazy, it's just democracy in action!

In contrast, Iraqi government troops are fighting more aggressively, and the insurgents' mystique is fading, thanks in part to popular television programmes such as "Terror in the Hands of Justice", which shows broken rebel captives confessing to everything from contract killings to homosexual orgies. Iraqi police say this has led to a surge in the number of tips from citizens, who now take a more scornful and less fearful view of the guerrillas.

This part is always good news. The more successful the US military and Iraqi forces are, the more the insurgency realizes their only chances of continuing to exist is to put down their arms and join the government. I hope it happens sooner than later. Read the whole article...