Off the wall
How can you tell if things in Iraq are going well? Check the graffiti, of course!
During a video conference from Baghdad to the Pentagon press room last week, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno explained to reporters:
“One of the things we do as part of our foot patrols among the popular centers is monitoring graffiti to gauge public sentiments. In the mixed and volatile Rasheed district of Baghdad earlier this week, there were two sentences spray painted in the wall in Arabic. The first said, ‘Yes, yes to the new security plan,’ and the second said, ‘No difference between Shia and Sunni.’ ’’
See? Who needs the Iraqi parliament when you’ve got neighborhood walls to gauge public sentiment?
Odierno essentially conceded the point. “Obviously, this is only one anecdote, but a small step in the right direction,” he said.
