obviously a mixed picture

i mentioned to make note of the introduction to gelb's cfr speech by Richard Haass, president, Council on Foreign Relations:

The subject today could not be timed better. It is April 2005, roughly
exactly to the month two years since the statue of Saddam in Firdos Square came
down. And it's three months tomorrow to the day since the elections in Iraq. A
number of statistics also help add to the background.

* Roughly 1,500 U.S. soldiers have lost their lives in Iraq since May 1,
which was the end of the major military operations. More than 1,560 U.S.
soldiers have lost their lives overall. More than 12,000 casualties--still over
140,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

* On the economic side, over 2,000 projects have been green-lighted or
started to some extent in the lifespan of the so-called Project and Contracting
Office. Of these more than 2,000 projects, less than 350 have actually been
completed, and less than $2 billion of work is in place out of more than $18
billion in resources that has been allocated by the U.S. government.

* Oil production is just over two million barrels a day, which is down from
a year ago slightly, and down considerably from pre-war levels, which [was]
closer to almost three million barrels a day.

* Electricity production is slightly above where it was a year ago, but
slightly below pre-war levels.

* Unemployment rates, while hard to measure, are somewhere in the 30
[percent] to 40 percent range, mostly recently slightly down, perhaps from where
they were a year ago, and considerably down, though, from where they were two
years ago.

* One interesting positive statistic: Internet subscribers estimated at
being at just over 10,000 before the war, close to 150,000 now.

* One could go on, but obviously a mixed picture.

heh. indeedy.