"I've been all the way through this desert from Basra to here and I ain't seen one shopping mall or fast food restaurant. These people got nothing. Even in a little town like ours of twenty five hundred people you got a McDonald's at one end and a Hardees at the other."

- Sgt. Michael Sprague of While Sulphur Springs, W. Va., to British reporter James Meek

And by God, Sergeant Sprague, when we're through with Iraq they'll have those McDonalds, those shopping malls, those Hardees. Maybe even a few Waffle Houses and a Wal-Mart here and there. I'm just getting teary-eyed thinking about it! I can't wait to see the ribbon-cutting for the first Best Buy in downtown Baghdad. You know, all those former Presidential palaces would make excellent locations for Target, Home Depot, or IKEA - wait, they're not French, are they?

My eyes have seen the glory! Little pink Lexuses and olive trees for you and me (with apologies to John Mellencamp)!