This vision of relations will seem palatable to Americans and Iraqis who want to believe that all will be well after the withdrawal of U.S. troops. But the image is a mirage.

Last week, Russia and China obstructed the Obama administration’s Syria policy by vetoing an anti-Assad Security Council resolution backed by the Arab League, Britain, France, and the United States.  As harmful as this defeat was in its immediate consequences, it may bode even worse for efforts to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons.

Bringing down Saddam Hussein is essential to destroying his regime.

Iraqi Kurdistan has achieved miracles since 1991, but it needs intellectuals, including journalists, to continue to move forward.

Just as the American government will display incontrovertible proof to the Iraqi people that Uday and Qusay are dead, so too must they display incontrovertible proof that the Baath Party is dead.

Next month's elections offer an opportunity for Iraqi democracy to turn a corner.

The United States should protect the Iraqi electoral process from anyone seeking to manipulate its outcome.

The Coalition Provisional Authority should not allow violence to win concessions. Nor will de-Baathification appease Iraq's Arab Sunnis, many of whom also suffered under the Baath party.