At the New Year, many of us make resolutions. We promise ourselves that we will be better people. We say we'll quit smoking. We say we'll give more to charity. I would like to recommend that WaPo resolve to dispose of its hellish prism. Yes, I mean that very prism through which it views and covers Iraq. You know the one, the "it sucks to be Iraqi" prism.
From the AP (publisher of terrorist propaganda):
"It was something not seen in Baghdad since before the 2003 invasion — people publicly welcoming a new year with singing, dancing and alcohol-fueled revelry. The ballrooms of two landmark hotels — the Palestine and the Sheraton — were full of people for the first New Year's Eve celebrations after four years of violence that has bloodied Iraq."
From the NY Times! (which has done it's level best to sabotage Iraqi freedom):
"They were planning to party until dawn — it was safe enough to celebrate, but not to go home in the middle of the night,"
But from the Washington Post:
"We are here by the force of depression, not by bravery," said Hassan Abdul Hamid, a poet and television producer, who came with his wife and two teenage daughters. "Joy is a power that needs to be released, just like sickness."
But where was the joy? The people had come: More than 300 convened under the crystal chandelier in the banquet hall of the Alwiyah Club, a storied Baghdad social establishment. It was the revelry that was off to a ragged start.
The families sat at their tables silently eating hummus and Brussels sprouts, overwhelmed by the synthesizer and rasping bass. The teenage girls politely sipped cans of Pepsi through straws, and the young men puffed cigarettes and stared at the stage. A few babies started to cry.
It sucks to be a reporter when your side is losing (but the Iraqi people are winning).
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