Despite the terror, despite the attacks, despite the doubt sewn by desperate leftists, a free Iraq is rebuilt:

Business is picking up again at Umm Qasr, Iraq's primary portal to the Persian Gulf. At the refurbished docks, traditional Arabian wooden sailing vessels called dhows and modern steel-hulled freighters as well deliver cars, cigarettes, even sheep, side by side.

...The busy trading activity at the port, located a few miles from the Kuwaiti border, is tangible proof of U.S. contractor Bechtel’s successful $38-million renovation project, says Bob Sinnott, Bechtel senior project manager.

...[T]o make sure the Umm Qasr project ran smoothly, U.S. AID turned to the US Army Corps of Engineers. Six Corps engineers are onsite as troubleshooters. "U.S. AID got the bang for the buck," a corps engineer on the standing on the deck of the [Norwegian vessel] Banastrar says.

The port came back together under a laudable civilian-military cooperative, and will serve to keep Iraqis fed throughout these difficult, early months. This isn't a quagmire, this another triumph of liberty. (Story via King of Fools.)