More Good Signs From Iraq

Baghdad property market booms

"Although property prices are plunging in many other cities across the world amid the global economic crisis, the return of Iraqi refugees to Baghdad – which has long had a housing shortage – could unleash a ballooning of demand."

Security draws Iraqi doctors home

"Mr Jaafar said the fall in violence had encouraged many of the doctors, even those who had left to go to the UK, to return.

"I do not think they returned for financial reasons," he told Reuters.

"The security situation was their sole concern. Without the improved security situation they would not have returned in this number.""

Iraqi lawmaker wins in fight over Israel visit

"I am happy for two reasons here," his lawyer said. "One is because I won the case. And the second is that this proves the Iraqi judiciary is independent, and there is no influence of the executive, legislative or government authorities on it. We have a courageous and daring judiciary," he said

Pact, Approved in Iraq, sets timetable for U.S. pullout

"Some Iraqi Shiite politicians said a significant factor in the cabinet decision was the approval of the pact by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most influential Shiite cleric in Iraq, who from the outset had laid down three conditions: full Iraqi sovereignty, transparency and majority support for the pact."

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"Ali al-Dabbagh, the Iraqi government spokesman, said the agreement allowed for the possibility that American forces could withdraw even earlier if Iraqi forces were in a position to take over security responsibilities earlier. He also said either side had the right to cancel the agreement with one year’s notice."

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"In many ways, the vote can be seen as a calculated judgment by the Iraqi leaders as to who, for now, is best positioned to guarantee their political survival. It was the United States, after all, that helped usher many of the current Iraqi leaders into power and, given the improved but still fragile security situation in the country, many still see a need for an American military presence.

The presence of American troops in Iraq is governed by a United Nations resolution that expires Dec. 31. If the pact is not approved and if the Security Council were to balk at extending it, the Americans say their forces in Iraq would have to cease operations."

British troops to leave Iraq by June 2009

"Britain is to start withdrawing its remaining troops from Iraq next March with the last of the forces likely to be back home by June, ending six year of British occupation of southern Iraq, according to media reports quoting military sources.

They would be replaced by “several thousand” U.S. troops as part of an agreement between the U.S. and Iraq. "

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"The BBC said Britain was negotiating the legal basis on which its forces can stay when its U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year."

Let's hope the UN Envoy's prediction about the upcoming provincial elections will prove correct, despite attempts by militants to disrupt Iraq's progress.