[fintstone]

Gee I hate to urinate on the fire you are attempting to stoke, but......Guess if you can't find any news or op eds that are bad enough, you can always reprint a sad old article predicting doom that never happened... and wish it were so. How about something a bit more current with a bit less sobbing...like a report from an arab think-tank:

Arab Report: Iraq Situation Improving
May 30, 5:33 PM (ET)

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Despite war and occupation, Iraq has seen a surge in human rights organizations, political parties and independent newspapers - entities almost unheard of under Saddam Hussein, said a report by an Arab think tank.

The report by Egypt's Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development Studies welcomed the promise of elections, the freedom of expression and independence of the media but was careful not to credit the Americans for the progress.

"Even though all indications of political rights and human rights mentioned in this report clearly illustrate that the situation in Iraq after occupation is much better than Saddam Hussein's Iraq, the truth remains that any situation would have been better than Saddam Hussein," the report said.

The report, "Civil Society, Democratic Transformation and Minorities in the Arab World," issued in late May, covered the changes in the country until December 2003.

The 250-page Arabic report reviews civil society, democratic transformation and minorities in 19 Arab countries. The report will be issued in English by July.