Newly Sovereign Iraq: "The Worst" Never Happened

Truth is the liar's worst enemy.

"Thank you Bush. I shall be playing my trumpet until the dawn."
-- Wasam Adain, 23-year-old music shop owner in Baghdad

by Rod D. Martin
June 28, 2004

As America today transferred sovereignty to a new, democratic Iraq -- whose government enjoys a 70-80% approval rating -- the unholy trinity of dead-ender Saddamites, foreign terrorists, and pro-Iranian Sadr stooges suffered a monumental defeat. Some now say that maybe, just maybe, the worst is over.

Actually, the worst never happened.

How quickly we've forgotten the hysterical predictions of Old Europe and our homegrown Cassandras last year as we prepared to liberate the 22 million-strong slave camp that had been Saddam's private fief.

If we laid a finger on Saddam, they warned, he'd launch Scud missiles into Israel, triggering swift retaliation and plunging the Middle East into a dangerous new war.

Besides lobbing Scuds into Israel, Saddam, we were promised, would order the burning of his oil fields, bringing economic and ecological ruin to a…