Quote:
That's the way it is in Iraq. In two-thirds of the country, municipal government has been rebuilt, business is good, restaurants are open, life is as jolly as it has been in living memory. This summer the Shia province of Dhi Qar, south-east of Baghdad, held the first free elections in its history, electing secular independents and non-religious parties to its town councils. The Kurdish North, which would be agitating for secession if real civil war were looming, is for the moment content to be Scotland. The Sunni Triangle, meanwhile, looks like being the fledgling Iraqi federation's Northern Ireland for a while to come.
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That's right, folks. Jolly.
So hush now! Don't ask about what's going on in the not-so-jolly areas of Iraq, because it's all under control! Things are just peachy elsewhere, and besides -- nobody likes a naysaying, gloomy gus!