A little more joy from Iraq

An 11-year-old boy from Iraq underwent heart surgery Monday in New York, the first of four ailing children who will be treated this week after their families sought help from the American military's Civic Assistance Command in Baghdad.
That good news was made possible to these children and their families from the wonderful folks at the Gift of Life program and the Rachel B. Cooper Foundation (if anyone has a web address for the Rachel B. Cooper Foundation, please post it in a comment).

This personal victory comes on the heels of a national Iraqi triumph at the voting booth this past Thursday, Dec. 15. It was all over but the shouting when the Iraqi Independent Election Commission announced that complaints of vote fraud were very low.

"The complaints voiced by political parties and the IECI on election day were similar to complaints filed following the January elections: some polling centers did not open and voters complained of having to travel long distances to cast their ballots; a number of polling centers were short of ballots and ballot boxes; some voters found their names were missing from electoral lists and some were turned away at polling centers; and political parties and police were accused of intimidating voters to vote for specific parties in several towns."
Sounds like a normal day in a Chicago primary to me.

And to beat all, dogs and cats are sleeping together! The main Sunni Arab alliance, Iraqi Accordance Front, said it was open to forming a governing coalition with a religious Shiite bloc.
Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, speaking in a nationally televised speech in Najaf, said that "the Iraqi people are sparing no effort to make the democratic process work."

More good news: A German aid worker, Mrs. Susanne Osthoff, who was taken hostage in Iraq last month has been freed and appears to be in good health. Her family is breathing a sigh of relief.


Excuse me. Is Spain our ally? Our gazpacho slurping buddies, the Spanish, grew some anti-terrorism stones and have arrested at least 15 people suspected of recruiting fighters to send to Iraq to participate in the insurgency.

One more? OK.
U.S. - Iraq army school.

Two more:
Historic Afgahn parliment opens in Kabul under tight security.




The hits just keep on coming.