Iraq News (14 March)

The Good: A Sadr spokesman has urged the thugs wreaking havoc in Kut to calm the hell down. Operations by our military and the Iraqis have been targeting these goons for the last couple of days. Interesting read about the life of a refugee in the LA Times, who came back to Baghdad from Egypt due to the decline in violence. Very inspiring.

The Bad: The Chaldean Archbishop Rahho has been found dead near Mosul after being kidnapped in late February. The Pope is deeply saddened by this ruthless brutality, obviously. Another car bomb went off in Baghdad and the AP has put the death toll at 18.

The Ugly: The progress of the Government of Iraq isn't exactly knocking the socks off of General Petraeus. Lackluster initiatives on national reconciliation and inadequately providing basic services to the citizens have been hampering the purposes of the surge. And, as Condoleeza Rice has stated, we should probably have had better plans for reconstruction when this invasion happened back in 2003.

Portrait of the bullshit Al-Qaeda caliphate