CNN’s report this morning on “Stressed Out Iraq” displays a remarkable ability to avoid the facts and recent poll numbers showing increased optimism about life, politics, and safety in Iraq:

Michael Holmes: The waiting room at Doctor Al Harith Abdul Hamid’s psychiatry practice is never empty these days. Young and old, they come stressed out, depressed, desperately unhappy with their lives in the new Iraq.
Doctor Hamid: They had a sort of hope that things are going to be better. Unfortunately, over the last 3 years, since the changes, things went bad. And it’s getting more and more bad.

Apparently, CNN missed this ABC News poll that showed that 70% of Iraqis say their life is good, 57% say they prefer a democratic system of government, and 63% say they feel “very safe” in their own neighborhood.

I’m sure in any American psychiatric clinic, you could find an equal or greater number of people unhappy with their lives as well. This small sampling of a selected group of patients paints a very narrow picture of life in Iraq.

Video here.