{"id":401667,"date":"2010-03-08T00:01:33","date_gmt":"2010-03-08T05:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/?p=32243"},"modified":"2010-03-08T00:01:33","modified_gmt":"2010-03-08T05:01:33","slug":"iraq-proves-the-doubters-wrong-again-and-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/401667","title":{"rendered":"Iraq Proves The Doubters Wrong Again And Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Andrew Bolt<\/strong><\/p>\n

Through gritted teeth, AFP acknowledges the miracle of Iraqi democracy:<\/p>\n

\n

Iraqis defied waves of bomb, mortar and rocket attacks that killed 38 people to turn out in huge numbers to vote in elections seen as a test of the war-shattered state\u2019s fragile democracy<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Gritted teeth? So what\u2019s to object to there?<\/p>\n

First, Iraq\u2019s economy was not shattered by the short war that liberated the country from Saddam Hussein. It\u2019s Saddam\u2019s misrule that did most to ruin it<\/a>, and since the 2003 war the economy has grown<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Second, what is the evidence that Iraq\u2019s democracy – a rarity in the Arab Middle East – is \u201cfragile\u201d? Since the 2001 war, the country has held two general elections, a presidential election, a governate election and a referendum, with many millions of voters turning out each time, despite threats to their lives.<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s time to frankly acknowledge that a country that was once a sinkhole of tyranny, state-sanctioned theft and devastating misrule is now that rarest and most valuable of things in the Middle East – a democracy with a fast-thriving economy.<\/p>\n

And which leaders did most to achieve this transformation?<\/p>\n

\n

TonyfromOz …..<\/span><\/p>\n

Gee! This wouldn’t be Bush’s fault too, now would it?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Andrew Bolt<\/em><\/a> is a journalist and columnist writing for <\/em>The Herald Sun<\/em><\/a> in Melbourne Victoria Australia.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more excellent articles from Andrew Bolt\u2019s Blog<\/a><\/p>\n

Filed under: America (USA)<\/a>, Democracy<\/a>, Freedom<\/a>, Iraq<\/a>, Middle East<\/a>, Politics<\/a> Tagged: Andrew Bolt<\/a>, Iraq Democracy<\/a>, Iraq Elections<\/a>, Iraq Recovery<\/a>, Tony<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Andrew Bolt Through gritted teeth, AFP acknowledges the miracle of Iraqi democracy: Iraqis defied waves of bomb, mortar and rocket attacks that killed 38 people to turn out in huge numbers to vote in elections seen as a test of the war-shattered state\u2019s fragile democracy. Gritted teeth? So what\u2019s to object to there? First, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4200,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-401667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401667\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}