New world
IT is two years since the world watched jubilantly as Saddam Hussein’s statue was toppled in Baghdad.
Those 24 months have seen a remarkable change in Iraq.
For the first time, a freely-elected President is in office and the Kurds — who Saddam massacred and repressed — play a key part in government.
Iraq has a Prime Minister, too, who commands the broad support of the Shiah majority.
Attacks on the Allied forces have fallen from 140 a day in January to less than 40 a day now.
More than 150,000 Iraqis have been trained and equipped to form an army and a police force.
Oil production has increased massively and electricity supplies are almost back to pre-war levels.
As the violence tails off, America is planning to withdraw up to 40,000 of its forces early next year.
Iraq without Saddam Hussein is an infinitely better place.
Democracy has been a slow process but it has been worth waiting for.
There can be no doubt that the war was right and just.