As we see more democratic action coming out of Iraq and as politics there is becoming relatively safe and measured, I think it will be important for Americans to understand how, even out of a war that was started through false pretenses and based on our nation's oil-dependency, some good came out of it. Saddam Hussein, a dictator to be feared and loathed, and the radical Sunnis he supported robbed his people of a voice and forced many into submission. With the 2009 governorate elections, we see a reversing trend and a light at the end of the tunnel. Is it possible for a nation previously ruled by a despot to be one of the world's newest democracies? And how should this democratic wave be measured and presented to the American people, who have for a long time seen only the dishonest and hastily planned war against Iraq?

http://jameslamiell.com/iraq/

This information-based site is aimed at people who either know nothing about Iraqi or who only know the headlines -- More Dead in Iraqi, American Occupation Continues, Sectarian Violence, etc. It is not a liberal or conservative statement, nor does it condone war or anti-war sentiments of any kind. However, it does provide a visualization/interactive environment in which to explore the results of a topic that in my opinion the media has bypassed in search of more evocative (read: violent and religious) stories.

The choice of web as the medium for this visualization was natural, as it is accessible by all and can be viewed on many different devices. I chose not to do the site in Flash, instead opting to use Javascript not only to explore the UI design options offered by JQuery but also to promote a more open-source development tool. Though the site is not complete, what started out as a simple visualization in my plans grew into a multi-tiered information system that required much more time and consideration, including sorting and comparing multivariate data such as ethnoreligion, seat, and voting pattern at a province- and even district-level.