A new Iraq...

The National Post today reprints a speech by Christopher Hitchens delivered in Toronto on November 16th.

One of the results of regime change in Iraq is that the Iraqi embassy in Ottawa -- which was once run by the envoys of Saddam Hussein's psychopathic cabal -- should now be occupied by Howar Ziad, an old comrade of mine. Ziad was a real insurgent in Iraq, fighting against Saddam Hussein's regime at a time when the West was not. He also happens to be a man of wide-learning and culture --including an appreciation of the works of Leonard Cohen. From an accumulation of such small details, one can sense what change in Iraq really means.

I was once asked why I wanted to become a journalist. I replied that it was because I didn't want to rely on the press for information. And to personally meet people like ambassador Ziad; or Jalal Talabani, the first elected President of Iraq; or the men who led the guerrilla war against Saddam in Iraq's southern marshes for 18 years -- to speak with such people is to feel very humble.

Also, in my case, very angry: Because when I read The New York Times or the Washington Post, or, indeed, some of the Canadian press, it's as if these people did not exist. You would not know that Iraq were now governed by its own people, with a parliament and six television channels and 21 newspapers.

One must remember that just three years ago, possessing a satellite dish in Iraq would invite death -- not just for you, but for your whole family. Remember, too, that the country's ancient marshes, home to a civilization that's remembered from Biblical times, were drained and burned by Saddam Hussein to destroy a Shiite people he loathed. The fire from that atrocity, considered by UNESCO to be the greatest environmental crime ever committed, was so intense that it could be seen from an orbiting space shuttle.

Please read the whole thing...it's well worth it.