Back in elementary school, our report cards, printed on green cardstock, used a special code for grading. ‘C’, for ‘Commendable’, and ‘S’, for ‘Satisfactory’, were the grades that you aimed for. ‘N’, for ‘Needs Improvement’, was the nadir of sucking, as it meant you probably spent your time in class hoarding old milk boxes inside your desk and possibly hadn’t yet learned to manipulated a pencil. There was a fourth grade, though: ‘I’, or ‘Improving’, which meant you still sucked, but not quite as incredibly as you used to suck.

Well, Lil’ America, your matronly schoolmarm, Miss Iraqi-People, has just released your report card for the quarter. Looks like it’s got ‘I’ across the board. Will it make it home without chocolate smudges? Will your mum be happy with it? Can you convincingly forge her signature instead?

In the poll, however, more than half the Iraqis, 53 percent, felt that the rapid buildup of U.S. troops in Anbar province and in Baghdad has made overall security worse, not better. Even those negative findings, however, were a sharp improvement since a similar poll last August. Then, 70 percent said the American buildup had made matters worse in the areas it had emphasized.

[…]

Regarding security, political dialogue, ability of the Iraqi government and economic development, 42 percent to 53 percent of the respondents found the situation worse. Those findings were down by 17 points to 27 points from the same questions eight months ago.

Wowee! Looks like we’ve finally managed to clean the cupcake stains off our cheeks and are really moving up the chain of academic success. Maybe Mum will get us that Swing Wing this July for our birthday!