I found an interesting article, “The State of Iraq” in the International Herald Tribune on September 10 (also the New York Times on September 9). This article is written by Michael O’Hanlon and Nina Kamp, respectively a Senior Fellow and a Senior Research Assistant at the Brookings Institution. I would like to show you some impressive statistics in this post, because the table of the original essay is not displayed in the link.
Improved items
Gross Domestic Product ($ billion):
18.4 (pre-war)―＞12.1 (August, 2003) ―＞21.1 (August, 2004) ―＞25.0 (August, 2005)
Non-oil Gross Domestic Product ($ billion):
2.0 (August, 2003) ―＞8.3 (August, 2004) ―＞10.9 (August, 2005)
Telephone Subscribers:
830 (pre-war)―＞800 (August, 2003) ―＞1,460 (August, 2004) ―＞4,180 (August, 2005)
Moreover, there were no trained judges when the occupational rule began, but now, there are 400. It is very important to notice the rapid rise of non-oil GDP. Currently, oil production has not risen to pre-war level. When oil industry has been reconstructed, Iraqi economy will improve dramatically. If the constitution is approved, and the new regime starts, people in the future will evaluate this regime change an epoch-making success.
Of course, terrorists are still rampant, and electricity production does not meet the demand. The media tend to emphasize these negative aspects, and criticize the US-led coalition. However, statistics tells that the state of Iraq is improving, despite some difficulties.
Michael O’Hanlon, the author, opposed the Iraq War. In addition, the Brookings Institution is rather Democrat. Viewpoints and analysis in this article are completely different from those of the Bush administration. Even from such liberal perspectives, some aspects in Iraq are improving. Remember!
6 comments:
Good post Shah. These numbers show that despite the leftist media's skewed analysis of the situation, progress is being made.
One thing a former soldier in Iraq has told me concerns the electricity situation.
He said that before the war the only areas (that is to say, outside the Kurdish autonomous region) that had electricity was the greater Baghdad area and the Sunni triangle. Now those areas with electricity are expanding into the Shiite regions to the south.
Life is getting better in some ways, but as long as the foreign fighters keep streaming into the country, there are going to be attacks. As far as they have come, there is still a long way to go.
Electricity supply is expanding into the Shiite regions...no wonder it doesn't satisfy the demand. It is astonishing that the economy is growing in a circumstance like this.
For further economic growth, terrorists must be defeated. Constitution approval will change what happens in this country. A political victory will discourage jihadists, sooner or later.
When they first started expanding the electricity into the other areas that didn't have it before, they had to have rolling blackouts like in California, a while back. The people you saw on TV complaining that they had electricity under Saddam (but not under the new regime) were the ones that had to suffer an occasional blackout to meet that demand for the south.
More manipulation from the media.
Shah,
The media here seem determined to present the worst news about Iraq. But many soldiers returning from Iraq tell about improvements and also speak of the lovely and lovable children, the hope for Iraq's longterm future.
The terrorists do not want to see a democratic Iraq be successful. A prosperous, democratic Iraq is the opposite of Islamism. If Iraq can be a stable and free nation, Islamism will suffer a defeat, and other oppressed peoples in the Middle East will want the same for their own nations. Mahdi Obeidi, former head of Iraq's nuclear development program, explained this at a public-speaking engagement in my area.
I do worry about the establishment of Constitutional Shari'a law because of the potential for oppression. Of course, Iraq will have to find its own way as to form of government.
Thank you, Shah, for this informative and optimistic blog article!
LA Sunsett,
Sorry for my late reply.
>>The people you saw on TV complaining that they had electricity under Saddam (but not under the new regime) were the ones that had to suffer an occasional blackout to meet that demand for the south.
This is exactly what I said in my post on September 3. That was about oil revenue, and this is about electricity. Whatever the matter is, Sunni Arabs has been extremely privileged. Shiites, Kurds, Turkomen, Assyrians, and other ethnic groups have their own right to share resources, utilities, and power.
Always on Watch,
Sorry for delayed reply.
As an Islamic country, it may be necessary that new Iraqi constitution reflect some Islamic values. However, the proposed constitution is expected to respect the rights of religious minorities.
For example, Assyrians believe in local Christianity. They have been playing important role in Mesopotamia. In the middle age, they translated Greek academic works into Arabic. During the Baathist rule, some Iraqi Christians, like Tariq Aziz, won top positions in the government.
New constitution will respect such minorities. No doubt about it.
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