Iraq's economy is booming. Who would have guessed - after all, what we have heard for years is only the negative, negative, negative. The fact that many Iraqis are experiencing a prosperous economy and a rising standard of living in the face of sectarian violence and instability is a very important perspective to include in all evaluations of the decisions we make.

Why is this boom happening now? Truth be told, it's been building for the past three years.

Iraqis received two of the biggest gifts humans can give other humans - hope and with hope, comes opportunity. When a nation loses its control-freak leaders, its bullies and thugs, fear declines, decisions start getting made, trust begins to see the light of day.

The naysayers (read MSM) and the hard left refuse to acknowledge this - they want control, control, control. (Note that the sources of this article are MSNBC and Newsweek.) America has given hope to a nation of historical barterers (Iraq). They are smart enought to take advantage of it. Too bad it took the MSM years to reluctantly admit that what we have done, are doing, and hopefully will continue to do actually helps people get back on their feet. Who knows how many lives would have been saved had the MSM actually supported the removal of an anti-American, thuggish dictator, Saddam, from the beginning.

Freedom is addictive. If people have the chance to develop trust and security, they can do anything.

America's gifts to the world are: hope and opportunity - freedom. We need to remember this.