Democracy sprouts in Iraq
From Howard I. Shapiro Sir: A past, but disgraced, American vice president. Spiro Agnew, coined the phrase, `the nattering nabobs of negativism', which aptly describes Paul Robinson, author of the article `Will the UN and the EU triumph over the US?' (18 October). Referring to Iraq he says, 'I suspect that they [the Americans] will fail to achieve their real aims, and that the result will be something that one can only call "defeat": I have news for Mr Robinson and his friends. Democracy is already sprouting in Iraq. There is now a free press with more than 100 newspapers printing what they please. And when Iraqis do not like what their occupiers are doing, they take to the streets and demonstrate — and we let them do so. It is admittedly messy at present, but progress is being made against formidable odds. As Mr Bush also said this past May, The advance of freedom is the surest strategy to undermine the appeal of terror in the world. Where freedom takes hold, hatred gives way to hope. When freedom takes hold, men and women turn to the peaceful pursuit of a better life.'
Stay tuned. We will get there in spite of the nattering nabobs of negativism. Don't underestimate our resolve.
Howard I. Shapiro
Woodmere, New York
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