The Good: Turkey and Iraq have stated that they will have long-lasting diplomatic and economic ties following a visit by Iraq's President Talabani to Turkey. Iraq's Kurdish President even stated that they were united against the terrorist group, the PKK. Lt. Col. Nagl, of COIN-related fame, has an Op-Ed in the Washington Post about creating an Adviser Corps and working with other countries in the international endeavor to eradicate Islamic extremism. Worth a read.
The Bad: One US soldier has been killed in Diyala province, while a mass grave of badly decomposed corpses has been located, also in Diyala. Iraqi women are protesting on the occasion of International Women's Day due to the violence directed against them. Likewise, down south in Basra, Iraqis are protesting the pisspoor security situation.
The Ugly: Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) wants to investigate why Iraqis aren't spending their own money generated from oil exports on reconstruction and services. I'd imagine corruption has something to do with it, and also the fact that Iraqi professionals are targeted by militias and terrorists and have fled the country en masse...oh yeah, and Paul Bremer dismantled the entire Iraqi bureaucracy under the CPA. The decline in violence should provide an opportunity for better spending of oilbucks by the central government in Baghdad, but I'm not holding my breath. Call me a skeptic. I have more faith in Iraqi small businesses jumpstarting the economy in this country.
Sen. Levin (D-MI) wants Iraqis to spend their own money and acknowledge the awesomeness of his comb-over
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