Iraq - Growing freedom and economy

Iraq Pundit looks at the Brookings data.

I'm especially encouraged by indications of Iraq's economic growth within a context of expanding freedom. (Only Lebanon and Morocco, among Arab counties, rate as more free than Iraq.) The Iraqi economy will reportedly grow by 16.8 percent this year, and is expected to continue growing for years to come at rates comparable to the expanding economies of Asia. Unemployment is falling, and per-capita income is rising. The number of cars is increasing, as is Internet connectivity.

To me, these are indications that Iraqis are using their freedom to improve their personal lives and, in the process, to build their country. One of the most infuriating aspects of the Western media's presentation of Iraq is that Iraqis themselves are reduced to being the bleeding, mourning victims of terror; they are bit players in a narrative that is about Bush wrecking the country. The material in the Brookings report not only credits Iraqis with initiative, it restores to them the dignity that the Western media's one-dimensional presentation denies them.

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