Posted on 09/29/2004 12:53:05 PM PDT by Former Military Chick
An editorial writer gets in the habit of reading the text of speeches--and books, newspapers and magazines--with a highlighter. Heck, after years of reading and highlighting and highlighting and reading, taking care to mark only the best or worst lines, we're not sure we can read without one.
So the other day, when the text of the Iraqi prime minister's speech to Congress last week moved on the Internet, we dutifully printed out a copy, instinctively picked up the Sanford Major Accent Highlighter and read. By the end of the six-page text of Iyad Allawi's speech, there were a lot of pink lines--like bright hopes here and there in the midst of a still uncertain struggle. For example:
*There are now over 6 million children at school, many of them attending one of the 2,500 schools that have been renovated since liberation.
*Last week, we completed a national polio vaccination campaign, reaching over 90 percent of all Iraqi children.
*We're starting work on 150 new health centers across the country.
*Millions of dollars in economic aid and humanitarian assistance from this country and others around the world are flowing into Iraq.
Beyond the hopeful specifics, there was something else in the prime minister's speech that impressed: a quality found all too rarely in this tough world. That quality was gratitude. (". . . Again, I want to thank you.") Yes, Americans are fighting in Iraq to preserve our own security, too, but it's good to know that Iraq's leader appreciates our help. His words come in refreshing contrast to the attitude of some European governments that long ago forgot that they, too, were once liberated by a Western alliance, and now have a stake in the expansion of freedom elsewhere.
But it was the little things in the prime minister's speech that impressed most. Did you notice the angel in the details? Homes rebuilt. Schools reopened. Health clinics operating. Hospitals healing. Kids learning. Children immunized.
These little things--enormous accomplishments in War-Torn Iraq--may come as a shock to the beleaguered reader of the usual dispatches from Baghdad or Sadr City. For if the news of progress there hasn't been edited out, it's been bumped inside by the bloodier news that makes Page One.
No, war ain't beanbag, either. And we're not about to blame the press for reporting only the bad news out of Iraq. Because the bad news is not only news, but right now it's the biggest news. So, yes, give it to us straight-all the car bombings, the kidnappings, the beheadings, the slaughter of innocents, the madness of war. But there's another side to the story in Iraq. And some of us would like to hear about it, too. Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister, for letting us in on it.
Yes, there have been mistakes galore in the War on Terror, Iraq edition. The way the American-led coalition left Fallujah to the mercies of Saddam's Remnants & Wild-Eyed Co. springs immediately to a cluttered mind. Also the way the American-led coalition tried to win the war and the peace with a Rumsfeldian strategy of Military Lite. But the next war in which Mistakes Were Not Made will be the first.
Every once in a while, it helps to notice the little things. As resolute as Iyad Allawi was, and needed to be, in his speech to Congress ("Your decision to go to war in Iraq was not an easy one, but it was the right one") the prime minister understood that Americans are an optimistic people. Like all lovers of freedom. And our optimism needs to be fueled by progress. At some point, risk demands reward. And Iyad Allawi himself qualifies as an early reward. Imagine: a prime minister of Iraq addressing the U.S. Congress as a welcomed guest. Some things have changed for the better in that country.
But some critics are so devoted to their own idea of a broken Iraq that they cannot accept the smallest success, the most modest progress. If it's not bleak, they don't see it. We appreciate Mr. Allawi's giving us a peek at what could be and, in encouraging spots, already is.
I did go out on a limb to say this is a must read. There are a few things that I might take exception to but they are drowned out by the facts that beyond Allawi speech no nobody else seemed to point out.
Isn't it odd that we haven't heard much about Allawi's speeches at the Congress and the UN after their initial delivery.
Straight from the horse's mouth and not from the usual MSM and war bashing liberals.
I liked his speech, but, did anyone else get the feeling that someone in the White House helped him write it? There were a few times I was not sure he was convinced by the words he was saying.
Leave it to Mr. Brokaw to show us what should have been good news twisted to look like really bad news.
I liked his speech, but, did anyone else get the feeling that someone in the White House helped him write it? There were a few times I was not sure he was convinced by the words he was saying.
I disagree. I think that his struggle with the language, pronunciation, enunciation, and inflection were part of the problem. It's too bad that the only thing that was covered by the LSM was the Kerry bash afterwards, but consider the source. We need more articles like this!!
PM Allawi's visit and speech should have rallied the nation, received widespread coverage - and didn't. Shame on our free, blind press.
A fact-filled editorial matters - unspun, good for sharing.
There's so much good news available - and being posted at FR (hoo ah!) people may ignore it - but the headlines compete with the negative msm headlines on the main forum, and a positive headline alone encourages - just as the msm headlines sow fear, provoke anger.
Thank you.
Bump.
BTTT
Thank you for the kind words. I do enjoy posting good news either on the homefront or abroad. Sometimes, you have to diga bit deeper to find it.
Sometimes they are just not there, until you are transfered to another link that happens to have American news, and tada there it is good news not to be reported by our MSM.
I thank you for all the wonderful articles that you post on FR, it does bring us together.
WOW! .... Soooooo much positive.....you'd never know to listen to some......;^)
And the MSM is still supporting the Silky-Pony and the Oompa-Loompa in calling it a quagmire.
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