Iraq — Another View

ARTICLE: The Iraq They Won’t Talk About,
by Amir Taheri, New York Post, April 23, 2008

BOTH opponents and supporters of the war in Iraq seem reluctant to raise the issue of what’s going on there now as an issue in the presidential race.

Opponents, of course, can’t deny that things are better than a year ago – and may fear that this could persuade voters that President Bush was right after all.

If war opponents always shift the focus back to the past, war supporters look to a putative future – countering their foes’ jeremiads with some of their own.

THE only useful debate about Iraq would focus on what is happening now – not what happened five years ago or what might happen five years from now.

It is what is happening now that makes new Iraq worth fighting for – not only for the Americans but also for all who dream of a free, pluralist, prosperous Middle East.

Iraq has bled, but remained unbowed. Iraq has resisted al Qaeda and the Iranian terror machine. Iraqis are learning to build a new society based on pluralism and are discovering the values that, in time, helped develop the Western democracies.

Despite all its sufferings, or perhaps because of them, Iraq has not succumbed to the forces of darkness, partly thanks to continued US support. That good news merits being part of the presidential debate.