Good Iraq News

Amid all the news from Iraq of chaos, insecurity and civil war one piece of good news emerged. The Washington Post says some rebuilding contracts are being transferred to Iraqis. The American firms trusted with the reconstruction effort have failed, going over budget and not completing their tasks. Now these are being transferred to locals to build and/or complete. This is good news because it will allow Iraqis to profit from the effort and provide critically needed jobs. The unemployment rate in Iraq has hovered around 60% since the American invasion. Iraqis scrambling to feed their families and provide basic necessities have suffered while observing foreign nationals gain all the construction work. This certainly hasn't aided in fighting the insurgency.

These are the kinds of policies we need to be changing if we're to turn things around in Iraq.