Kurdistan has made incredible progress and enjoys sympathy from the West, but the murder of a 23-year-old journalist threatens to undermine the region's promising future.

The cost of the Iraq war was high. Almost 4,500 American servicemen and women died, and many more were injured. American taxpayers paid billions of dollars. Was the Iraq war worth it? Yes.

Iraqi judge Zuhair al-Maliky has issued arrest warrants for Ahmad and Salem Chalabi; hisactions have less to do with imposing justice than obstructing it.

If there is one success story since 9/11, it has been the efforts to combat terror finance. If military action is sometimes akin to conducting surgery with an axe, efforts to dry up sources of funding are like wielding a scalpel.

If Iraqi Kurdish leaders had the power to prevent the Turks from acquiring the tools of massacre but did not, they should be willing to explain why, or be forced to acknowledge they use the rhetoric of Kurdish empowerment insincerely.

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.

Iraq should begin considering what it will do if Iraqi President Jalal Talabani dies. If they start considerations now, the transition of power will be much smoother.

Obama's foreign policy style is akin to a gambler at a blackjack table who wants to sit at the table' but place his bets only after the dealer has laid out the cards.