Tons of good news in Iraq.

[wacki]

Massive article at http://chrenkoff.blogspot.com/ detailing alot of the recent success in Iraq. Even the BBC is reporting alot of the unsung success. This is stuff that you won't see on the news. It's a huge article, and for the first time in a while I feel optimistic about Iraq. There is too much to post. The article covers elections, educations, healthcare, sports, polls, culture, economics, and much much more.


Powerline blog, via one of its readers, brings to our attention the results of an opinion poll, which is not getting any publicity outside Iraq. "[The] poll taken in Baghdad, Mosul and Dehok and published in Iraq on October 25. The poll probably over-sampled Sunnis, which makes its results even more striking:

"63% of Iraqis say that the withdrawal of American and allied forces will not be in the best interest of Iraq, it will undermine the work towards security and control of the country. 27% say that it would be in the best interest of Iraq. 9% had no opinion.

"58% say that terrorists do the kidnappings and assassination of police and soldiers. 9% say that patriots fighting for Iraq carry them out. 32% say ignorant Iraqis who have been brain washed & misled carry them out.

"89% said that the terrorism, kidnapping, beheadings and assassination of police and security forces do not help the freeing of Iraq and the building of a stable country. 6% said that it would help free Iraq and build stability. 4% had no opinion."

It seems that insurgents are failing not only to win popular support but also to slow down the march towards democracy. Iraq's Shia religious establishment have now thrown their weight and moral authority behind the election:...........



Education
..............
"Teacher salaries were raised from $5 a month to a starting salary of $60 and an average of $300 a month.

"A new Minister of Education was appointed who quickly assembled a new senior staff. Some 12,000 teachers and administrators who had been members of the now-banned Ba'ath Party were fired.

"USAID has rehabilitated more than 2,500 schools and trained 33,000 high school teachers in effective and modern classroom management.

"UNICEF and USAID distributed school supplies to more than 5 million students and reprinted textbooks, after removing much of the propaganda from the previous regime.

"The U.S. Congress has allocated $70 million to rehabilitate 1,000 additional schools, and the World Bank has allocated another $60 million. These funds set the stage for school reconstruction for the next three years.

"The U.S. and other donor nations have pledged an additional $150 million for textbook revision, teacher training, and other non-construction projects. Teachers, for example, need to be trained in a variety of teaching strategies to ensure all students learn.

"The Ministry of Education has revised curriculum in the areas of civic education, history, and religion and has appointed a new national curriculum commission to revise curriculum in all subject areas."

As Riley notes, many problems remain: "The most serious obstacle to education reform in Iraq is an overly bureaucratic system and a workforce that has been isolated for 30 years." But the groundwork has been already laid, and with the democratically elected government taking charge in January, Riley hopes a new sense of ownership and accountability will spur further much needed reforms.

Iraq's higher education institutions will, meanwhile, benefit from a better connection with the outside world:

"Qtel has announced that it will shortly provide internet services to universities and educational institutions in Iraq using the VSAT technology.

"VSAT, which stands for Very Small Aperture Terminal relies on advanced digital satellite telecommunications equipment for data, voice, and video applications. It is one of the most effective technologies used today to meet a diverse set of communications needs providing quickly deployable remote area connectivity.

" 'The International Fund for Higher Education in Iraq' Committee had recently signed a contract with Qtel through Qatar Foundation for providing remote connectivity to 37 locations in Iraq. Qtel's VSAT network will connect universities and other educational institutions within Iraq and be hubbed through the VSAT HUB in Doha, Qatar...........



........ECONOMY: Iraq is celebrating the first anniversary of the introduction of the new dinar. John B. Taylor, Undersecretary of the Treasury for International Affairs, says:

"One year later, a new currency is circulating throughout Iraq and the Iraqi currency exchange is hailed as a success. The exchange rate is steady, price stability has been restored, and economic growth this year is 50 percent, one of the highest rates in the world. The new Iraqi dinar is a sturdy and secure currency, imprinted with traditional Iraqi symbols -- altogether a great improvement over the flimsy bills with Saddam's face.

"Demand for the new currency has been so strong that the Iraqi government has earned an amazing $5 billion in seignorage [the capital gain generated by the creation of reserve money] during the past year just supplying it... And Iraqis are using the newly-minted dinars to purchase goods -- fresh bananas from the Americas, chickens from around the world, new and used cars -- at stable competitive prices in markets in Basra, Baghdad, Irbil and Mosul."...............


And much much more.

[Xargque]

What Iraqis are polled here? Is it only those in America-controlled areas? How can we be sure that those polled represent an unbiased cross-section of the Iraqi population as a whole?

-X

[wacki]

It tells you what cities they polled.

[sam h]

[ QUOTE ]
It tells you what cities they polled.

[/ QUOTE ]

If it was a decent poll then that is certainly good news but knowing what cities were polled tells you next to nothing about whether the people polled represent anything close to a random sample of the population in general.

Do you have a link to the poll?

[wacki]

If you read click on the link I posted it will give you to the chrenkov article. The article is very well linked and sourced. A link to powerline blog will give you a name Haider Ajina. A little research will also show that all of the major Iraqi Dailies are printing the story.

[sam h]

[ QUOTE ]
If you read click on the link I posted it will give you to the chrenkov article. The article is very well linked and sourced. A link to powerline blog will give you a name Haider Ajina. A little research will also show that all of the major Iraqi Dailies are printing the story.

[/ QUOTE ]

I got as far as googling the name and looking for the poll but couldn't find anything about the methodology.