Word: iraq
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...fiscal summit at the White House. "For too long, our budget process in Washington has been an exercise in deception," Obama announced. "We do ourselves no favors by hiding the truth about what we spend." In specific terms, this means accounting for expenses like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as natural disasters as part of the normal budget process. But the bigger point is to differentiate Obama, who remains quite popular, from Bush, who remains quite unpopular. The move allows Obama to re-emphasize that he has not been in office long enough to be held responsible...
...also admirable that the Obama team has chosen to be more forthright than the previous administration when it comes to deficit accounting. The announced changes to budget deficit calculation—which will now include the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in addition to other previously hidden government spending—is certainly a step toward more transparent government. Their commitment to reducing the deficit in fact as well as on paper is essential to making real improvements in fiscal responsibility...
...Westerners are not the only ones eyeing Iraq. Last March, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became the first Iranian leader to visit Baghdad. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is also expected to travel to Iraq soon, to renew once strong economic and commercial ties between the two countries...
...That reality was on show during the French President's Iraq visit. Maliki used Sarkozy's presence and words of support to respond to comments by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden that Washington would be "more aggressive" in demanding political reform from Baghdad. Delivered as Biden left for an international security summit in Munich, the sentiment apparently annoyed the Iraqi Prime Minister. "The time for putting pressure on Iraq is over," Maliki said during a Baghdad press conference with Sarkozy. That must be music to Old Europe's ears...
...pictures of Iraq's revival...