TIME TO, AS THEY SAY, "MOVE ON":

The Transition Has Begun: One by one, Iraqis regain control of their own government operations. (Robert Alt, 3/29/04, National Review)

Much debate has swirled from Washington to Baghdad over the June 30, 2004, Coalition-pullout deadline: Will it be too soon to formally transfer power over key governmental operations from Coalition authority to the Iraqi people? At least one agency has demonstrated that June 30 is not soon enough: In a formal ceremony on Sunday, Ambassador Paul Bremer, surrounded by Iraqi doctors, announced that authority over the Ministry of Health is now officially in the hands of the Iraqi people.

That the Ministry of Health should be the first of the 26 public ministries to return to Iraqi control is quite an accomplishment, especially when you consider its dilapidated status just one year ago. Years of neglect had taken their toll. Maintenance was unheard of under Saddam, leaving only 35 percent of the equipment in hospitals operable. Doctors and medical students were unable to view medical journals online because of government policies that made owning a satellite dish a crime punishable by the state. And to add insult to injury, when Jim Haveman, the senior Coalition adviser, and Dr. Kudair Abbas, the Iraqi minister of health, arrived last year, the ministry building itself was completely looted. It is therefore not surprising to learn that Iraqis had come to expect little in the way of medical care.

What a difference a year makes! Saddam only provided $16 million for health care in his 2002 budget, a wretchedly low sum that should again prompt questions about how the Oil-for-United-Nations-Cronies — I mean, Oil-for-Food — program was operated. In FY 2004, however, the health budget received an enormous 60-fold increase, providing $948 million for 26 million Iraqis. At the end of the war, Iraq possessed only 300 tons of pharmaceuticals on hand. Compare this to the 35,000 tons of drugs distributed this year alone, a total that notably includes 30 million doses of children's vaccinations.