Progress in Iraq

Here's something we don't read in the western press: "Iraqi Prelate Tells of the Good Going On."  Chaldean Bishop Rabban Al-Qas reports on the progress being made in his native country since the fall of Saddam Hussein:

"Under Saddam there was only poverty. Now the economy is slowly reviving thanks to what the government and the Americans are doing. New building sites are opening, new construction is going on. All this is going on in spite of terrorist attacks. How many people paid in blood their commitment to rebuild Iraq? Italians, Japanese, French, Americans, Koreans. No one talks about power plants restarting, oil wells reopening, agricultural programs being launched, roads being rebuilt" not to mention the "150 daily newspapers in the country" and the demonstrations which were banned under Saddam, he said. "Western Europe and pacifists have been blinded to what is going on in our country," the prelate said. In fact, "something new is sprouting here, a democracy, young, but real, and in need of help," he said. "Now there is no excuse not to help us. Before it could be argued that everything was under U.S. control. Now there is a U.N. resolution and power is in the hands of the Iraqi government."