Canada has just agreed to forgive its portion of Iraq's foreign debt. Over and above the $300 million we've already contributed, this brings our total contribution to Iraq to a cool billion.
It only makes sense, after all. Why hobble a new democracy with the debts the dictator incurred?
Top US Weapons' Inspector Quits.
Hmm... I seem to recall that those madly trying to prove that the security concerns that were their main justification for the invasion of Iraq were pointing to Mr. David Kay as their great hope that Iraq's hidden weapons of mass destruction would be found. Seven months have passed, and Mr. Kay has quit, citing "frustration". I guess we should agree that this is the greatest surprise of the war, and in some ways, Saddam Hussein has had the last laugh on us without firing a shot.
Unfortunately, this revelation appears to have been greeted with a big collective shrug by the general public, despite the serious questions it raises about the Bush Administration's possible manipulation of the American public, and about the effectiveness of America's intelligence community.
...well, maybe not unfortunately; there are good arguments for moving on. What's done is done, and we now have an occupied country that we have to try to guide to democracy.
Progress in Iraq?
Chris Albritton of Back to Iraq has the goods on a hoax e-mail substantially exaggerating the progress that has been made in Iraq in recent months. The ironic thing is, this list is clearly a spoof of a real news conference held by Paul Bremner, which sites like NewsMax and FreeRepublic thought bucked them up.
There has been progress in Iraq. This post separates the fact from the fiction. There's still, however, a long way to go.