Who freaking cares. Another manifesto from tw is not contributing.

My preferred narrative would be that the American and British militaries saved W from his misguided ideas.

Absolutely. We should have never attacked Iraq. It was a bad idea compounded by bad planning.

That said, it happened and sadly, we broke it. So rather than beating a dead horse, I'd rather look for solutions to the problem.
The few encouraging points of light, (that tw would wrongly call, feel good stories fabricated by the administration... Vietnam, deja vu), seem to be caused by some competent commanders that have their shit together.

Also, the Iraqis seem to have come to the conclusion that the US is not the only outside influence, but the lesser evil and a useful tool in eliminating the others. I think the realize the US will go home, if they can control their country.

It's a clusterfuck, I don't like it, but it is reality.

I think the key is that those individuals have proven their integrity to the folks they interact with. Pronouncements from Washington are meaningless, but a promise made in country by someone with known integrity and competence could carry the day.

Iraqi oil exports are now greater than pre-war levels.

Under the UN's food for oil regime?

Yes

And how much goes to the US in our quest for oil since that is why we invaded them, right?

I venture to say little to none compared to pre-war amounts.

Your probably right, but every barrel that goes on the world market creates less competition for what we buy.

Possible, but I still think there are wacko's out there that beleive that we invaded Iraq for oil. Hell we just need to invade Alaska. Wait, we already own it.

Agreed.

Very interesting and a positive step, but what is the situation with Iraq's own power/electricity generation?

That is even more encouraging.

Rk's input on this particular topic would be interesting.

Pssst. cough canada cough

:D

Let me dust off those ole plans: http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=492

lol

That's right we can always blame Canada.