Code blue? Not just yet Iraq is the sick man of the Middle East. That is what the media tell us. Iraq unfolds daily before our eyes as a casualty list. Skewered in the press, Iraq is the place wherein no good happens. It limps across the newspaper pages as the pathetic story, that, were it in America, would cry out for repair. Every case of injustice in the U.S. breeds a victim and a wrong that must be righted. Correctly so. America is the country of the fair deal. Hence the media champion the underdog and usually propose solutions requiring ever more government funding. Iraq though is different. The country that is but a tale of woe is offered little media hope. No future appears beyond a recount of the body count. But things are getting dramatically better in Iraq by the day. Millennium workers report an increase in wages. Electricity is coursing through wires in a manner almost as reliable as the European and U.S. electricity grids. Iraqis buying refrigerators evidently can afford them and expect to have electricity to run them. More jobs are to be had. Trucks are scarce . . . because they are all being used. Iraq is making tentative steps toward a free press. Iraqis are voting. The majority of the country is at peace. Even the price to perpetrate acts of terrorism has risen. Early after the war, one hundred or two hundred dollars was enough to get a terrorist act committed against U.S. personnel. The cost has since risen into the thousands of dollars. Macabre but telling. Security is still a concern and will be. Yet in contrast to one week after the war – there is little sense in comparing prewar conditions as sanctions distorted an already distorted Baathi system – Iraqis claim they are better off and are more optimistic about the future. Polls conducted by the Spectator and Gallup both confirm the sentiment. And polls are being conducted. When was the last time Gallup conducted a survey in, say, Syria or Iran? James Clark     ============================================================== (c) 2003 Millennium Relief & Development Services, vol. 3 no. 14 'Insight' is a publication of MRDS to interpret current events in light of the experience of members of our international network. 'Insight' archives and other information can be found on our website. 'Insight' may be freely copied with this citation. If you wish to be removed from this mailing list, simply reply and request to be removed. Millennium RDS, 5116 Bissonnet #358, Bellaire, TX 77401-4007 Tel: (713)961-5645 Fax: (713)961-5735 www.mrds.org insight@mrds.org.