Is Iraq better off?

A lot of people believe that the Iraqi people are not better off.

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2004/02/13/200402130018.asp

On the optimistic side, a study by two researchers at the Brooking Institution in Washington, D.C., shows that the murder rate in Baghdad is high, but leveled off in recent months. Electric production is up, as is oil production, and more drinking water is available.


I feel you can argue several points of going to war (WMDs, WMD programs, the entire idea of preemptive strikes), but the one point which is indisputable is that the Iraqi people are better off. Yes, there have been several riots with them complaining about electricity (that is just because the Iraq people are immature and don't know how to act out there feelings any other way). Why weren't they rioting before? Because they would have been shot and they knew it.

Yes it will take 20 or more years till Iraq recovers, but now the unrealized potential of the Iraqi people is being realized. Which is a whole lot better than the previous situation of constant poverty and corruption.

cube