Iraq News (4 April)

The Good: Iraq is making some progress on the Oil Law, which will allow more private investment to flow into Iraq and therefore more money for reconstruction. In McClatchy of all places, they write a lengthy report on US forces making progress in Khan Bani Sa'ad in Diyala province. Imagine that. If McClatchy would've started reading milbloggers from Diyala, they would've known that this is not new news. The Prime Minister has vowed a crackdown on militia thugs in Sadr City (it's about freakin' time).

The Bad: Sadr has called for massive protests against those devilish Americans for April 9th in the holy city of Najaf. Ironically, this is scheduled for the 5th anniversary of the fall of Baghdad and the fall of Saddam's regime...the same regime that assassinated his father. Uh, okay. One Airman was KIA in Baghdad yesterday. Newly released data from the Iraqi government states that over 1,000 Iraqi Police and Iraqi Army abandoned their posts or joined with the militia during last week's offensive. Not the kind of professional security we were all hoping for.

The Ugly: The Dems are already crying foul on the upcoming Petraeus/Crocker testimony before it has even started. They want the latest NIE report unclassified, and Pelosi is already saying that she wants the report sans sugarcoating. If she had paid attention to the last testimony instead of turning the whole thing into pundit grandstanding like politicians tend to do, she would've realized that it was pretty accurate.

Nancy Pelosi: Guranteed to make a big stink next week