Mr. Chrenkoff’s Blog
Witnessing Two Revolutions
By Sara Pentz

In an article written for Opinionjournal.com, the online version of the Wall Street Journal, on Monday, November 8, 2004, there is an excellent behind-the-news summary accounting of the war—and the peace—in Iraq. It is an amazing read for two reasons.

First, Mr. Chrenkoff’s blog details the good news from Iraq that the mainstream media has disgracefully refused to report. This blogger has given us a look at Democracy in progress. His accounts show us how a once subjugated people are taking control of their lives. How the American soldier, American free enterprise, humanitarian help from around the world, and freedom itself have had an impact on these so recently tyrannized people.

Second, in an unprecedented move a major media outlet has published an Internet blog written by Arthur Chrenkoff, an Australian blogger. It is a deserved sanction made by one of the world’s more influential newspapers. It demonstrates the vital importance of bloggers and their Internet writings. The blog itself, http://chrenkoff.blogspot.com/, proves that bloggers can be intelligent, impartial, honest and observant—and that some of the best are here to stay.

We are, in fact, witnessing two revolutions—the rise of the credibility of the blogger, and the building of a free society in the face of undeniably appalling odds. The American mainstream press has subjugated both of these revolutions until now.

The Stuff of Mr. Chrenkoff’s Blog

Mr. Chrenkoff’s blog focuses a bright white light on a country evolving in a way we cannot quite imagine. It is not a report about failures, beheadings, murderers and the carnage of war. Mr. Chrenkoff takes us behind the scenes to look at how Democracy is working in this ruined country.

It is an inspiring journey as Mr. Chrenkoff documents details, and quotes Iraqis who are experiencing their freedom at work. He shows us how they express and demonstrate their courage and resourcefulness as they rebuild Iraq with the help of people who understand their plight. It is a story of heros and hope.

He writes about the emergence of political parties and voter registration—about the development of precinct organization and the upcoming election. He writes about the small triumphs of such things as successful local city council elections.

He writes about shops filled with brand-new refrigerators, televisions and air conditioners. He writes about a northern Iraqi governor who talks about promoting tourism, and about local residents who shrug off questions of violence and kidnappings as they emerge from the chaos.

He writes about an Iraqi economy celebrating the first anniversary of the introduction of the new dinar—about how the Iraqi Central Bank will soon license foreign banks. This is the same central bank, he writes, that auctioned Treasury bills from the beginning of July 2004 for the first time in years.

Mr. Chrenkoff writes about how construction work is thriving throughout the country and the infrastructure is being rebuilt. About how water quality is improving as water-treatment plants appear, and new electricity plants that will provide air conditioning for the summer of 2005. And he tells us about how ChevronTexaco Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding recently with Iraq's Oil Ministry to provide free technical assistance to upgrade the country's exploration and production industry.

He writes about teacher’s salaries raised from $5 to an average of $300 a month—about a new Minister of Education who quickly assembled a senior staff after some 12,000 teachers and administrators who had been members of the now-banned Ba'ath Party were fired. UNICEF and USAID, he writes, distributed school supplies to more than five million students and reprinted textbooks, after removing much of the propaganda of the previous regime. Then he talks about the boxes full of medical textbooks donated by a textbook company, and the need for more books of every kind.

He writes about how a company will shortly provide Internet services to universities and educational institutions in Iraq using advanced digital satellite telecommunications equipment for data, voice and video applications. It is one of the most effective technologies used today to meet a diverse set of communications needs and to provide remote area connectivity.

He writes about how the Iraqi medical system is being rebuilt. About how Iraqi physicians now arrange medical conferences in collaboration with American military physicians. Together they discuss blood diseases, chest trauma and the future of emergency medical services. Gunfights near conference sites and terrorist threats have failed to deter invited American physicians and more than 300 Iraqi physicians from participating in these conference. He writes about how medical centers, dental clinics, hospitals and drugstores are being rebuilt—sometimes from the ground up.

He tells us that museum officials recently began to study, catalog and reconcile scattered but priceless collections and how they plan to create a digital catalog of more than 100,000 artifacts. The catalog will be made available in English and Arabic, on the Internet and in print.

He writes about a small group of young men who recently gathered on a patchy grass field behind Baghdad University's College of Sports Education. They were there to organizer Iraq's fledgling national baseball team. He writes about how humor is on the rise throughout the population because people are feeling in control of their lives. He tells us that toys are streaming in from all over so that little boys and girls are given a chance for a happy childhood.

The Meaning of Mr. Chrenkoff’s Blog

Mr. Chrenkoff’s blog is informative, comprehensive and objective. It is the kind of report not available in newspapers or on television in any country in the world. As such it is an embarrassment—especially to the American mainstream media (as it should be) because this country boasts a high regard for non-partisan reporting. If anything, Mr. Chrenkoff’s blog proves the dismal failure of the American media to honor that tradition.

That Mr. Chrenkoff’s blog can be read only on the Internet is shamefully underscoring the refusal of the American media to tell the other story of Iraq. No wonder media elites are smearing bloggers. They are terrified of these people who can outperform them across the spectrum.

Mr. Chrekoff’s blog is a clear testimony to the certainty of freedom of the press. When the void for objective reporting occurred and the technology became available, the bloggers stepped forth with a kind of passion to counter and correct the misinformation campaigns of the mainstream media elite.

It is a sad fact that most people accept the news they read in mainstream media, day after day, as if it were the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. We have been, often unwittingly, brainwashed by this current gang of elite East and West Coast American reporters. We have accepted the word of news anchors and pundits who twist the facts, compound partisan reports and perpetrate the big lie.

But no longer. These bloggers can take well-deserved credit for their efforts to expose the media’s bias. They laid bare CBS’s Dan Rather for his slanderous attack in a CBS Reports TV show on President Bush during the election campaign. They offered a very different view of Senator John Kerry’s Vietnam record—partially accounting for his election defeat.

With a few exceptions, bloggers are focused on one principle—the emergence of truth through facts. And they can do that because they have the knowledge and the incentive. They come from every profession, opinion and philosophy to rip through the falsehoods, dishonesty and revisionism of the elite media. It’s as if these bloggers have collectively risen up to say, “We’re not going to take it any more.” This is their revolution.

The Revolutionary

Mr. Chenkoff’s blog offers a very different view of Iraq than we learn from the American media every day.

“Judging by the response to this now almost regular column,” he says, “I would venture a guess that part of the explanation why the American involvement in Iraq continues to enjoy a majority popular support is that a significant number of people throughout the country (America) have stopped relying on the mainstream media for all the news from Iraq.”

This is the story of two revolutions. Neither involves guns. Instead they are more intangible and far more important. They use the power of ideas—that individual freedoms create a better life and that freedom of the press demands honesty and a reverence for the truth.