And so it begins. Sovereignty has been turned over to an Iraqi government. There are those who say this is a sham; others think it will bring real change. I think even the prior announcement of a hand over made a difference. To the Iraqi people, the insurgents (I don’t like the word but I don’t have a better one) are becoming more clearly the enemy, more foreign and less home grown; American soldiers are becoming less occupiers and more temporary order keepers; political progress is becoming less just promises and more concrete. These are all good things. The desired end state for Iraq isn’t that we’re loved and so then we leave; the desired end state is that a representative, liberal Iraq stands on its own two feet, then we leave, and then (maybe) we’re loved. How long did the love last in France and Germany?