It's All Good

The Bush administration and their partners in the right wing media have often complained that the dominant liberal media rarely talk or write about all the good news coming out of Iraq, but instead concentrate on all the bad stuff, such as soldiers getting blown up and civilians dying en masse. Which is undoubtedly why the president felt it necessary to go on national television last week to give Americans all the good news and none of the bad, although he did recognize that in war there actually may be some bad news from time to time.

President Bush emphasized his ‘stay the course’ Iraq message on July 4th before heading off to Europe and the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, where the agenda, probably to his relief, is largely dominated by aid to Africa and global warming rather than Iraq and other foreign policy headaches, such as Iran, North Korea and the Palestinian issue. With Bono and Bob Geldof singing his praises, and with a Supreme Court nominee somewhere in his briefcase, this is shaping up to be a good week for Mr. Bush. But I thought that I might lend him, Fox News, and all the talk radio hosts a hand by rounding up all the terrific news out of the Mesopotamian region so far this week:

1. Iraq will be signing an oil pipeline deal with its neighbor Iran. Oil will be flowing both ways, although it’s not clear why. But the idea is good news, right? Two oil-producing nations that used to be mortal enemies now collaborating on a pipeline? We must be winning this war.

2. Iraq announced a deal to buy flour from Iran. 250,000 of tons of it, and the first of what will undoubtedly be many trade deals between the two now brotherly nations. We’re letting Iraqis make their own trade deals, just like we’re going to let them handle their own security soon. See, we’re winning this war.

3. The blast outside the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday was not targeting Iranians, but the U.S. convoy passing by. Whew! Not all diplomats are unsafe in Baghdad, and no one died in this attack. We are surely winning this war.

4. Iraqi Defense Minister al-Dolaimi is in Iran, meeting with his Iranian counterparts to discuss border issues and “to boost relations as much as possible with the Islamic Republic.” The Iraqi minister can travel around freely....see, we’re definitely winning the war.

5. Prime Minister al-Jaafari of Iraq will also be visiting, you guessed it, Iran next week! And he’s taking ten of his ministers with him. This will fully cement the brotherly relations between Iran and Iraq, and give Mr. al-Jaafari the opportunity to acquaint himself with President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who unfortunately is thought by some Americans to be one of the hostage-takers of 1979. And is now under investigation by Austria for his alleged role in a political assassination in Vienna in 1989.

Mr. Ahmadinejad denies both charges, so I’m sure they’ll have a nice chat about other things, such as Russian upgrades of Iran’s submarines, which will be patrolling the Gulf and presumably can protect both Iran and Iraq when the American presence is reduced.

See, the war is almost won, at least by Iran. But somehow I don’t think you’ll be hearing about this on talk radio.