February 28, 2005

Good News Round-up

Arthur Chrenkoff leads the Monday morning reading list again, as his latest bi-weekly round-up of good news from Iraq is up at Opinion Journal.

Arthur uses a recent column by David Ignatius to illustrate the new mood in Iraq:

I discussed the transition with Muwaffak al-Rubaie, who has been serving as national security adviser in the interim government. A Shiite with close ties to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Rubaie is likely to hold a post in the new government. The freewheeling political discussion was delightful for its ordinariness. It was what you'd find in any democratic country - yet it would have been punished by torture or death under Saddam Hussein.

As he notes, ordinariness is a blessing in a country such as Iraq, where life has been so hard for so long. I'd add that more Americans, especially those who enjoy flirting with the far right and far left's romantic attachment to discontent and "revolution," could learn a thing or two about the virtues of ordinary peace and calm. After all, calm is the exception in human history.

— Winfield Myers

| Feb. 28, 2005 | 7:05 AM