MARCHING ON

Test your knowledge of Iraq:

1) Hepatitis is on the march, spread by sewage-contaminated water.
2) Freedom is on the march, spread by the U.S.-led coalition.

Correct answers:

1) True

In 2003, 70 percent more cases of hepatitis of all types were reported across Iraq than in the year before. During the first six months of 2004, as many cases were reported as in all of 2002. In yet another indication of the deteriorating safety of water and food in Iraq, the number of reported cases of typhoid fever is up sharply this year. ...

Those reports come as the Bush administration has proposed shifting $3.46 billion in reconstruction money for Iraq to programs that would train and equip tens of thousands of additional police officers, border guards and national guardsmen in hopes of regaining control of the security situation. The shift, which needs approval by Congress, would gut what had been an ambitious program to rebuild Iraq's crumbling water and sewage systems. ...

2) False

"We are succeeding in Iraq," Dr. Allawi boldly announced to the Congress, describing the rebels as a desperate bunch on the run.

[But] American troops leave their forts only in armed convoys. Simply to hand out food and candy in a relatively quiet neighborhood in Baghdad the other day, they felt compelled to first set up a defensive perimeter.

Score: 100% = informed. 50% = uninformed. 0% = neocon.