Great progress in Iraq

Posted: February 28, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Jim Rutz

On balance, Iraq is improving – but you'd never know it. So I must take yet another swat at the Everest-size pile of disinformation that has been clogging the airwaves for too many months.

Preamble: Yes, anything could happen in Iraq short term. We could have terrible setbacks. I'm neither a Pollyanna nor a prophet.

Instead, my optimism is founded upon the fact that God is turning the hearts of Muslims toward Him (long term) and away from the steel-trap religion of the Quran, which decrees death for those who want to leave it.

Our bullets are still needed in Iraq short term, alas, but that's not God's Plan A. As I've noted before, over a million Muslims have turned to Jesus (their revered prophet Isa) over the past nine years in the hardcore Islamic nations of Pakistan and Bangladesh. And roughly 1 million Muslims worldwide have reported having a very shocking vision of Jesus appearing to them – about 70 percent of whom recount that Isa spoke some variation of, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man comes to the Father but by me," which you may recognize as John 14:6, word for word.

Such facts as these should be pretty compelling evidence for anyone, skeptic or no. But we don't even need theology to tell us which way the wind is blowing in Iraq. My main point for today: The indisputable physical data are now shouting an historic turnaround, and even the most hard-nosed, atheistic reporters can no longer ignore the truth.

Karl Zinsmeister, editor of The American Enterprise Online, has put together an eye-opening array of hard facts that redefines the Iraq debate and shines a bright spotlight on the yellow journalism that passes for reportage these days. A small sampling of his surprises:

* Casualties in each of the nine previous American wars were over 50 percent higher than the 4 percent figure for Iraq.

* U.S. troops wounded in action were 7,920 in 2004 vs. 5,961 in 2005.

* A quote on fatalities from the U.S. National Guard commander puts the deaths in perspective: "I lose, unfortunately, more people through private automobile accidents and motorcycle accidents over the same period of time."

* Attacks on oil facilities: 146 in 2004, 101 in 2005.

* Forget the unpatriotic agitprop from Howard Dean, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry: G.I. morale is so high that they are re-enlisting at record rates. Re-up totals in the active Army have been 6 percent over target for three years.

* Should coalition forces bail out ASAP? Is a long-term occupying force scandalous? Hardly. The turn-tail liberals are simply desperate to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Editor Zinsmeister brings valuable perspective, noting that:

Even after the hostilities of World War II were over, the U.S. occupied Japan for seven years of stabilization and reconstruction, and West Germany for four years ... Eliminating a terror insurgency has historically taken a decade or two ... Our occupation of the Philippines after the Spanish-American War is a closer example of what we face in Iraq; we fought an extensive insurgency there for years, then remained in the country for nearly a century, with very positive eventual results.

* Support for terrorism in 17 Muslim countries has plummeted, and "Those carrying out terror in Iraq, never more than a small fraction of the population, are now deeply resented by most residents ... In December, Iraqis filed a record number of tips."

* Average household incomes rose an amazing 60 percent from February 2004 to November of last year.

* Compared to pre-war numbers, cars have doubled and traffic has grown fivefold. Sales of heavy consumer goods and machinery is soaring.

* Just since early 2004, cell-phone ownership has exploded from 6 percent to 65 percent, and 86 percent of homes have satellite TV.

* Iraq now has 44 commercial TV stations and 72 commercial radio stations, which compares nicely to 0 before 2003. There are 100-plus newspapers. (Is the New York Times, our "newspaper of record," telling you anything about this?)

* Super surprise: Iraqis are delighted with their much-improved security. (And the forces are now over half Iraqi.)

* With 14 million adults, voting last year leaped from 8 million to 10 million to 11 million! They elected an interim parliament of 31 percent women!

* Yet on one typical news day, Jan. 21, 2005, the U.S. press ran 7,110 negative stories on Iraq vs. 96 positive stories. Bang the drum slowly. This is treasonous.

I've skimmed off some of Zinsmeister's more positive points, but his article is quite well balanced. Enjoy reading it all.