iraq
things are looking better in iraq. this is a good thing. some folks will say the surge worked. some folks will say it was the bribes to turn foes to friends. some folks will say it was running sadr out of town. and some will say it was the iraqis finally figuring out it's all up to them. whatever. it's impossible to say what was the cause. we'd have to repeat the experiment a few dozen times. with say no surge or an earlier bigger surge etc. otherwise we might as well give credit to shaman sally's ooga booga dance. anywho. the best possible outcome is that iraq's future parallels japan's after world war 2. ie peace, prosperity, economic dominance, free markets, us ally, civil liberties, secularity, etc. which is kinda funny. cause they had more of all of that than any other muslim country in the region before the first gulf war.