Iraq News (26 Feb)

The Good: Iran to help rebuild Iraq to help spruce up the Baghdad Municipality ? I know what you're thinking, that LT Nixon is some stooge for the theocracy in Iran by linking to the Tehran Times in "The Good" portion. My friends, if there's one thing I've learned it is to put ideology aside and savor small victories, and money from Iran to help with Baghdad's sub-par services is a lot better than EFPs and 240mm Rockets coming from Iran. Also, Minister of Oil Shahristani wants foreign companies to start coming in and investing in Iraq's oil infrastructure. That's sure better than US tax dollars. The paratroopers from the 82nd detained a special groups thug in Baghdad, good stuff, thanks for looking out guys.

The Bad: More violence during the Arba'een pilgrimage yesterday where terrorists attacked Shi'ite pilgrims in the Baghdad district of Karrada. It turns out that the mythical 130,000 personnel in Iraq by July isn't going to hold. It will actually be 140,000 troops as the Pentagon announced yesterday. This is bad since the military remains on an unsustainable deployment cycle, which even our top brass have acknowledged.

The Ugly: One of the managers at Al-Fourat TV has been detained by coalition forces for connections with Special Groups. The station is run by the Hakim's Supreme Islamic Council and I'm expecting the rumor mill in Iran and the Arab world to be rife with conspiracies for the next few days.