A Conversation About Iraq

Now, I don't have many conversations about Iraq outside LJiC. Most of my interactions about politics and war occur here in the blogosphere. Folks know me here, and if I don't like the way the conversation is going, I just turn off the computer.

But today I was talking to a group of people after church. One of them saw that I was reading Hunting Down Saddam, by Robin Moore. He asked what I thought of the book, and I said it was a great look at the push in to Baghdad, and the hunt for Saddam.

He sort of made a face, and said, "What a mess we've gotten ourselves in to there."

Now, normally I sit back when I hear comments like that, breathe deeply, and ask very quietly, in my best therapist tone, "Now, what makes you say that?" It provides a breather for both of us, and a chance for me to get my thoughts together before landing on the uninformed victim with both feet.

But this time, I couldn't help myself. Maybe its the pain from the wisdom teeth removal. maybe its just that I'm tired of hearing how awful things are there. Whatever. I just said, clearly and concisely, "Iraq is NOT a mess. How can you say that about a country where millions are going to vote on Thursday?"

We then had an excellent discussion, with the man making the comment finally agreeing to take a look at sites like Michael Yon and Iraq the Model before saying something like that again.

Voicing optimism about Iraq, and the forces of Democracy at play there is not fashionable today. The constant drip, drip drip of pessimism most people are exposed to makes it difficult to present the reality in a coherent way. Things simply aren't that bad in most of Iraq, and a whole lot better than they were under the butcher Saddam. Despite the media and the Defeatocrats constant harping on what's wrong there.

But its time to start voicing optimism about Iraq, past time. And not just in the closed system of the blogosphere. The truth is out there, and the truth about Iraq is positive. It's time we started telling folks that truth.

Update:
One of the topics we discussed was a comparison between post-war Germany and the current situation in Iraq. Here's a look at some of those parallels.