It’s been all over the blogosphere (see here, for example). Jubilation and unity in Iraq following their victory in the Asian Cup of football. Reminds me of the jubilation and unity when South Africa won the Rugby World Cup in 1995. This parallel with our own transition to democracy is yet another reason why I’m surprised South Africans aren’t more supportive of Iraq’s slow progress towards freedom. Anyone who saw our voting lines in 1994 should have seen a reflection in Iraq’s elections. Anyone who feared and fumed and fretted through those edgy years of Boipatong and Bisho, Codesa negotiations and the Boerestaat, Chris Hani’s murder and Vlakplaas revelations, would surely see that Iraq is no different. Why are most of us so eager to see the hopes of Iraqis dashed on the altar of political correctness, when we lived and realised those very same hopes ourselves?

On the upside, even the New York Times (link may need registration) surprised everyone with an editorial which opines that the war in Iraq can yet be won, that the surge strategy deserves support from Congress, and that precipitous surrender would now not be a good idea. In what amounts to a sudden about-turn, they call the political debate in the US “surreal”. The column is notable for its statement that “critics…seem unaware of the significant changes taking place”, and the unselfconscious admission that the authors - who by their own description used to be harsh critics - had not visited Iraq in almost two years. Hence their candid surprise.

Yet only a couple of weeks ago, the editor of the Financial Mail, Barney Mthombothi, wrote a harsh editorial, simply entitled Cut and run, in which he says “Iraq can never be stabilised”, and advocates withdrawal “regardless of the consequences”. Of all people, I’d have thought South Africans could see the need to support Iraq’s struggle for freedom.

A copy of my response to Mthombothi, which the FM declined to publish (perhaps because of its 700-word length), follows after the fold. Links added.

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Alex Matthews over at the Liberal Revolution has some pictures and a writeup of chaos on Metrorail trains. He says it’s no wonder most people take taxis. The much-maligned minibus taxi industry has grown from nothing, in the impoverished townships, the moment it became legal for black people to operate passenger-carrying vehicles back in the 1980s. Seeing a need, private entrepreneurs grabbed the opportunity. It became a case study in unofficial black economic empowerment. Today, for all its warts, taxis are a cheap, efficient and ubiquitous industry that serves vast masses of mostly low-income commuters. It’s not surprising that government, for all its waffle about “service delivery”, couldn’t deliver such a thing.

Will Gautrain, the government rapid-rail link between Johannesburg, Rosebank, Sandton,  O.R. Tambo Airport and Pretoria, be the same? Somehow, the anticipated R100 fare makes me think chaos on packed platforms is unlikely.