Indexing Iraq

Brookings, the liberal Washington think tank, this week released a massive compendium of statistics about the extraordinary situation in Iraq. The report, by Michael O'Hanlon and Nina Kamp, consists of 55 pages of tables and graphs addressing everything from civilian deaths to economic growth to life expectancy. There is plenty to argue about in a report like this, which after all is no better than its sources. (These include the U.S. government, the international press, and many others.) Nevertheless, Brookings is to be thanked for its attempt to present an in-depth picture of a complicated society undergoing dramatic transition, when the major Western press is content to present us with a portrait of a place beset by car-bombs, kidnappings, and retrograde clerics.

I'm not in any way shrugging off the security situation in Iraq; it's very serious, and has repeatedly been a threat to the safety and well-being of my own family. But there are a lot of things happening in Iraq, with numerous developments pointing in welcome and even heartening directions.

I'm especially encouraged by indications of Iraq's economic growth within a context of expanding freedom. (Only Lebanon and Morocco, among Arab counties, rate as more free than Iraq.) The Iraqi economy will reportedly grow by 16.8 percent this year, and is expected to continue growing for years to come at rates comparable to the expanding economies of Asia. Unemployment is falling, and per-capita income is rising. The number of cars is increasing, as is Internet connectivity.

To me, these are indications that Iraqis are using their freedom to improve their personal lives and, in the process, to build their country. One of the most infuriating aspects of the Western media's presentation of Iraq is that Iraqis themselves are reduced to being the bleeding, mourning victims of terror; they are bit players in a narrative that is about Bush wrecking the country. The material in the Brookings report not only credits Iraqis with initiative, it restores to them the dignity that the Western media's one-dimensional presentation denies them.

Yes, there is a lot of material in the Brookings compendium that makes for painful reading. But I get the painful part of the Iraq story every time I unfold my paper, or turn on my TV, or subject myself to the online maunderings some "informed" scholar-poseur. I'm glad someone wants to tell the rest of Iraq's complex story.