I glanced at this resplendent report from the Weekly Standard early in the morning but didn't have time to read it until now, by which time Glenn Reynolds had plugged it. And for good reason: another mark of success by Paul Bremer's Provisional Authority is the infant free press bursting from Iraq. Two points are worth nothing. First, the authenticity of the reporting derived from the honesty of the views:

Opinions on the Coalition Provisional Authority, for instance, run the gamut from supportive to critical. Take Al-Aswaq, the daily newspaper of the Iraqi Industry Federation. One of its recent editorials asked, "Isn't it better to assist the council in doing its job than looking for reasons and justifications to make it fail?" A news article in another issue reported a spokesman for the Shiite Al-Sadr organization saying "As of today, we have no qualms with the members of the council, but they should remember that they are to serve Iraq's interests . . ."

In contrast, an editorial from Al-Rassed, a daily published by the Islamic Education Center in Noor City, said "The implementation of democracy by the American administration suffers from hypocrisy because of its reluctance to allow the Iraqi people to practice democracy by selecting its representatives even for the sake of experiment."

Security is also a concern. A newspaper called Tareeq Al-Sha'b printed an open letter to Gen. John Abizaid (who recently replaced Tommy Franks as the head of Central Command). The letter writers noted that the International Food Program has been a recent target of thieves, and asked for more troops to protect aid shipments: "Why don't you redeploy [American troops] in areas from where they withdrew in order to put an end to looting food intended for millions of Iraqis?"

Reasoned, constructively critical opinions that sound as if they could easily have come from the pages of the Washington Post? or Wall Street Journal.

Second, Paul Bremer is following wonderfully in the hard-nosed footsteps of Supreme Commander of Allied Powers in Japan, Douglas MacArthur, by reminding countrymen that their freedom - in the midst of unextinguished warfare and the poisonous danger of nascent self-government - is still in a brace for its own good, and that no one is allowed to abuse a fragile freedom of speech in order to subvert it:

On July 13, Abdul Sattar Shalan, the editor of Baghdad's Al-Mustaqila (The Independent), wrote that his paper would reveal the names of locals who were cooperating with Americans, "so . . . the people can issue their verdict on them." He went on to say that "spilling the blood of spies is a religious and patriotic requirement."

Under an order issued by chief American administrator L. Paul Bremer in June, the Iraqi media are forbidden from inciting violence or ethnic hatred. So it came as no surprise when coalition forces stormed Al-Mustaqila's offices on Tuesday and shut down the paper.

Bremer's office has also closed Sawt Baghdad (Voice of Baghdad), a Baghdad radio station, because of its ties to Mohamed Mohsen al-Zubaidi, the self-proclaimed "mayor of Baghdad." (Al-Zubaidi had been encouraging people to rob Baghdad's banks.) In another incident, a newspaper in Najaf associated with the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq was shut down for making inflammatory comments, too.

In time, a common good will be naturally established by Iraqis to shame and ostracize purveyors of hatred and upheaval, a protectorate reward of civil society. Until then, we should be proud of the steady achievements of both occupier and occupied.