Tuesday, August 03, 2004

Worse

So, a reporter who recently wrote that things are better in Iraq than the media portrayed has now changed his mind and is saying they're worse. I was struck by this statement:

In March, as I was writing, the $18.4 billion reconstruction effort was just getting off the ground. I had sat in on a briefing in which a senior U.S. official confidently predicted that, by June, thanks to American rebuilding efforts, Iraq would have electricity 18 hours a day throughout the country.

I called that promise "credible," and argued that, once Iraqis could see that kind of progress from the rebuilding program, perhaps the insurgency would abate.



How on Earth could any sentient journalist consider that to be a "credible" promise? I mean, we've been hearing promises about restoring electricity to pre-war levels since Flightsuit Boy appeared.