Lesson for U.S.? Iraq plans to turn prison into a new business complex

Some random Iraq thoughts:

• For the first time in my life, I find myself wishing that the United States could be more like Iraq. We have too many people in prison.
• But not too much like Iraq. While I was out in late December, there also was a nasty double bombing in Ramadi, where someone is upset with the police. Also in Mosul, where the police headquarters was destroyed. And Baqubah.
• The governor of Anbar yesterday survived his fourth assassination attempt. But, like Monty Python’s famous knight, he is down an arm and a leg.
• I don’t know how I let this get by me: Last September, the Iraq war surpassed the Vietnam War in length. U.S. forces fought in Vietnam from March 1965 to August 1972, which is seven years and five months, while they have fought in Iraq since March 2003, which would make September 2010 seven years and six months there.
• The less attention people pay to Iraq, the more important blogs like Joel Wing’s become. And he has been on a hot streak lately. If you haven’t read it, you are missing out.
• No one seems to notice it when American troops die there. Over the weekend two more U.S. soldiers died — at the hands of Iraqi soldiers in Mosul.