The invaluable Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has compiled a series of political television commercials from Iraq, for the upcoming January 30th elections. Theare profoundly encouraging. First and foremost, the Iraqi television viewing public is being asked for its support, something that must be entirely new to them. Second, since some of these commercials are running on satellite services such as Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, the experience of seeing them is going to be wodely shared in the Arab world. This will greatly amplify the impact of the elections themselves, and help bring about the transformation in Middle Eastern politics that President Bush envisions. Finally, the quality overall is fairly high. Some of them are fairly sophisticated int heir use of image, music, editing, and other technical skills.

A big hat tip to LGF

Thomas Lifson  1 23 05