Sunday, April 15, 2012   Now this is cute. Online, the New York
Times carried the feel-good story (Eric Pfanner's Interntional
Herald Tribune article -- the Times owns IHT) that Iraq, via an
underground cable system, is now a telecommunications hub. It's
a feel good story for a number of reasons. The US government,
please remember, is appalled that Bashar Assad, president of
Syria, is supposedly using an internet suppression device to
limit access. Remember, Syria got that technology from Iraq
which received it from the US with the US government's
permission. And remember that the Arab League Summit was held in
Baghdad March 29th and that, for that entire week, the Baghdad
cell phone signal was killed by the government. It'd be nice if
a feel-good story could contain some reality.  It'd be even
nicer if the 'paper of record' could actually report on Iraq.
Thursday the head of Iraq's Independent High Electoral
Commission and one other commission member were arrested. It's
huge news in Iraq. The New York Times