HOPE REPORT FROM BAGHDAD
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
"’It's hard to even think about what it used to be like before,’ said Abdul-Karim Mahdi, a 45-year-old employee of the Ministry of Public Works. ‘We used to live in fear. We used to unplug the phones whenever we talked with each other inside the house. With Saddam gone, at least there's hope.’"
That’s the "Hope Report" from Baghdad’s Borzou Daragahi of The Washington Times.
Recall when the mainline media told the world that New Iraq would never make it? They interviewed every depressed Iraqi they could find all along the way. We in America heard about depression maximum from the Iraqi grassroots after Operation Iraqi Freedom set loose. So we had to filter daily what was real and what was magnified in order for the leftist media to beat down US President George W. Bush.
But Mr. Bush kept his convictions firm — it was time to spread freedom, wherever. And now we are seeing the sun shining upon Iraq’s capital city: Baghdad, according to Daragahi in the March 20 report. That’s exactly two years and a day since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom’s three-week-win war.
We have witnessed this past week the opening of the Iraqi National Assembly. That parliament building still stands. The members still live. And the government is off to a superb start.
All the while, Saddam Hussein sits woefully in his sealed prison cage. I wonder how often he recalls caging his own citizens, putting the cages in the center of the marketplace. Or how he recalls his sons caging females from off the street, never to be seen again by their families. Once the sons used the females, they were discarded, sometimes that meant being sliced through — killed.
It’s been two years and now the sun shines over the capital city, states Daragahi. In other words, there is hope for a previously bloody rule. There is hope for a Muslim populace. There is hope for a people who had practically given up the definition of "hope."
"Two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq on March 19, 2003, toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, his entrenched government and social order, the outlines of the country's future are beginning to emerge. With a newly elected parliament in a position to maneuver a radically transformed nation, Iraqis enter their third year of a new era hardened by two years of violence.
"Iraq's Shi'ites have waited 1,000 years for power, first under the Ottoman caliphate, next under the Sunni-led monarchy established by the British and finally under the brutal dictatorship of Saddam. Two years ago, the Shi'ites stood by patiently as U.S. troops entered their country. Politicians associated with Shi'ite groups control more than half of the 275 seats in the new parliament, and a pious Shi'ite religious scholar named Ibrahim al-Jafaari is all but assured of becoming the next prime minister. The past two years have drawn them out of hiding and into the public sphere."
Hope report from Baghdad. That’s exactly what it is. May the mainstream media take note and give the detail to the world public. It’s time. We’ve been on truth delay long enough. Out with the good news of the New Iraq, newspeople.
"’All we need now are honest people who care about the country to lead us forward,’ said Fadhel Mehdi Salah, a 46-year-old goldsmith.
"’At the time of Saddam, we were 100 years behind and now, we are 200 years ahead. We are moving along side by side with the latest technologies. Whatever new science is out there, we can get it daily,’ said
Mohammed Sabah.
"’Before, we couldn't get things from abroad. Now, everything we need, we can get, and at a good price,’ said Safwat Rashid, a wholesaler of hardware and industrial machinery.
"Now, salaries have increased 20- and 30-fold among ministry employees. By some estimates, the number of cars on the streets of the Iraqi capital has tripled. Iraqi households now have satellite television."
There’s hope. Hope.
Thank you, Mr. Bush and colleagues. Thank you, armed servicemembers. Thank you, nations who joined the US-led Coalition and never reneged. Thank you, Red States. Thank you, God.
"’It's hard to even think about what it used to be like before,’ said Abdul-Karim Mahdi, a 45-year-old employee of the Ministry of Public Works. ‘We used to live in fear. We used to unplug the phones whenever we talked with each other inside the house. With Saddam gone, at least there's hope.’"
That’s the "Hope Report" from Baghdad’s Borzou Daragahi of The Washington Times.
Recall when the mainline media told the world that New Iraq would never make it? They interviewed every depressed Iraqi they could find all along the way. We in America heard about depression maximum from the Iraqi grassroots after Operation Iraqi Freedom set loose. So we had to filter daily what was real and what was magnified in order for the leftist media to beat down US President George W. Bush.
But Mr. Bush kept his convictions firm — it was time to spread freedom, wherever. And now we are seeing the sun shining upon Iraq’s capital city: Baghdad, according to Daragahi in the March 20 report. That’s exactly two years and a day since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom’s three-week-win war.
We have witnessed this past week the opening of the Iraqi National Assembly. That parliament building still stands. The members still live. And the government is off to a superb start.
All the while, Saddam Hussein sits woefully in his sealed prison cage. I wonder how often he recalls caging his own citizens, putting the cages in the center of the marketplace. Or how he recalls his sons caging females from off the street, never to be seen again by their families. Once the sons used the females, they were discarded, sometimes that meant being sliced through — killed.
It’s been two years and now the sun shines over the capital city, states Daragahi. In other words, there is hope for a previously bloody rule. There is hope for a Muslim populace. There is hope for a people who had practically given up the definition of "hope."
"Two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq on March 19, 2003, toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, his entrenched government and social order, the outlines of the country's future are beginning to emerge. With a newly elected parliament in a position to maneuver a radically transformed nation, Iraqis enter their third year of a new era hardened by two years of violence.
"Iraq's Shi'ites have waited 1,000 years for power, first under the Ottoman caliphate, next under the Sunni-led monarchy established by the British and finally under the brutal dictatorship of Saddam. Two years ago, the Shi'ites stood by patiently as U.S. troops entered their country. Politicians associated with Shi'ite groups control more than half of the 275 seats in the new parliament, and a pious Shi'ite religious scholar named Ibrahim al-Jafaari is all but assured of becoming the next prime minister. The past two years have drawn them out of hiding and into the public sphere."
Hope report from Baghdad. That’s exactly what it is. May the mainstream media take note and give the detail to the world public. It’s time. We’ve been on truth delay long enough. Out with the good news of the New Iraq, newspeople.
"’All we need now are honest people who care about the country to lead us forward,’ said Fadhel Mehdi Salah, a 46-year-old goldsmith.
"’At the time of Saddam, we were 100 years behind and now, we are 200 years ahead. We are moving along side by side with the latest technologies. Whatever new science is out there, we can get it daily,’ said
Mohammed Sabah.
"’Before, we couldn't get things from abroad. Now, everything we need, we can get, and at a good price,’ said Safwat Rashid, a wholesaler of hardware and industrial machinery.
"Now, salaries have increased 20- and 30-fold among ministry employees. By some estimates, the number of cars on the streets of the Iraqi capital has tripled. Iraqi households now have satellite television."
There’s hope. Hope.
Thank you, Mr. Bush and colleagues. Thank you, armed servicemembers. Thank you, nations who joined the US-led Coalition and never reneged. Thank you, Red States. Thank you, God.
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