UN Envoy offers upbeat report on Iraq

In the most upbeat assessment by a U.N. official since America invaded Iraq, Secretary-General Ban's top envoy in Baghdad, Steffan de Mistura, told the Security Council yesterday that it "cannot ignore the recent improvements" in Iraq since last year's troop surge.

Mr. de Mistura, who arrived in Baghdad last fall, acknowledged that Iraqis and the coalition forces still face serious "challenges" in the near future, but in yesterday's periodic report to the council, he noted marked progress since last year and said the security situation has not only improved but that there have been "welcome steps towards national reconciliation and inclusive political dialogue," though "tentative and overdue."

U.N. assessments of the conditions in Iraq since the war began in 2003 have often been bleak and critical of the activities of the American-led international troop contingency, known as the Multi-National Force–Iraq. A former secretary-general, Kofi Annan, famously called America's decision to unseat Saddam "illegal." But yesterday, Mr. de Mistura credited the surge of American troops for much of the success in Iraq.