Thursday, September 27, 2007

Good News and Encouraging Views Roundup

I usually spend two or three hours on the net every day, some in the evening and some early in the morning. This evening has been an exceptionally good day for discovering good news pieces. I thought I'd share some.

First comes this excellent article, from the British newspaper The Times, about the war in Iraq, which an Iraq the Model fan posted in the comments to that great blog.

Real Leadership: An Iraqi example of courage that puts the antiwar industry to shame

Taken from that article, this:
American opinion polls show that more than 60 per cent trust the US military to handle Iraq better than either Congress or the Bush Administration. Passionately as most Americans want an end to their engagement in Iraq, fewer than a quarter want to “get out now and damn the consequences”
is encouraging news.

Even more encouraging is the argument the author makes about the rapid spread of the movement that began with the Anbar Awakening Council in what is primarily Sunni territory. But I especially like what the author does to the foolish folks in the antiwar movement, including many prominent Democrats. Referring to the recently assassinated Sheikh Abdul Sittar Bezea al-Rishawi, whose assassination appears to have inspired the rapid spread of the movement, the author says:
This is a political transformation of the first order, bigger than the man himself, and its significance is well understood in Baghdad. Outside Iraq, an antiwar industry has sprung up that cites the suffering of Iraqis to justify abandoning them. The man who became known as “the Flower of the Desert” died fighting that cynical false logic. His courage, and that of thousands of his followers, puts the Iraq debate in its proper perspective.
Next, is this news: Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric meets Sunni leader.

Could this mean that Iraq has just taken a giant leap forward toward stability and freedom? I've always felt that Iraq would make it and that democracy would take root. So far, it's been a long hard slog with many discouraging twists along the road, caused primarily by the enemies of democracy in Iraq. But I'm becoming more and more confident that the Surge (a long overdue change in the Rules of Engagement governing American forces in Iraq) is going to make the difference. These two events are signs that the conditions necessary for reconciliation are not only possible but, perhaps, very, very near.

On a different pet topic, comes this article on the topic of CO2 and global warming. Carbon dioxide did not end the last Ice Age If nothing else, it shows what I have come to believe, namely that the science about global warming is far from settled and the question of whether or not human activity causes warming is anything but a signed, sealed and delivered guilty verdict.

Lefties given to hysteria about these issues won't like any of this news, of course, but do I give a shit? Of course not.

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