It seems that, happily, Arthur Chrenkoff has not retired after all. So for some relief from watching the slow, painful death of New Orleans, check out the latest Good News from Iraq.
The new Iraqi constitution is pretty much in place, and polls show that a majority of Iraqis will vote for it, and are optimistic about their future. There will continue to be issues to debate — the tension between Islam and “democratic principles” as a source of law; the Sunnis’ continued intransigence on the federalism issue — but that’s the nature of government. And the whole point of democracy is that these issues are subject to debate, not established by fiat.
Another highlight of the latest Good News is that airline travel is starting to boom, with flights to and from Arbil and Basra. Hopefully procedures at those airports will avoid the Baghdad roller-coaster ride (flights to and from the Baghdad airport follow a tight vertical spiral to lessen their vulnerability to shoulder-launched missiles).
As for the continuing insurgency, check out Michael Yon’s blog. He’s a writer embedded with American troops in Mosul. His accounts of urban combat are harrowing.
