You begin to think that this BBC report might be fair – and it certainly provides evidence for optimism. And then you come across paragraphs like these:
But [the government appointees] are dismissed as outsiders by Iraqis, as people that spent the Saddam years outside Iraq whilst others suffered and struggled within. Perhaps most damning is the almost total lack of belief that people seem to have that the council will be able to act independently of its’ [sic] American masters. Maybe it is the hulking presence of US tanks and armoured cars on street corners; maybe it is the vacuum in authority left by the collapse of a totalitarian regime. But there is precious little faith amongst Iraqis that this council represents the beginning of an era of self government. For most Iraqis, the bottle is most definitely half empty.
Notice how these things are simply asserted. How does this guy know what “most Iraqis” think? Why, given the unprecedented range of participants in the new governing council in Iraq, is it so obvious that they will not become autonomous at some point?
DERBYSHIRE AWARD NOMINEE: “Polygamy is not worse than gay marriage, it is better. At least polygamy, for all its ugly defects, is an attempt to secure stable mother-father families for children.” – Maggie Gallagher, coming up with “new” arguments against gay marriage.
The Dish 