As Gen. David Petraeus and Amb. Ryan Crocker struggle to answer the question, "when can we leave Iraq?" they focus on the security component of withdrawing U.S. troops. But there is another crucial task that is frequently overlooked: getting Iraq on a development path. After a three-week, Humvee-riding, body-armor-wearing expedition to areas of Iraq only rarely seen by visitors, CGD vice president Dennis de Tray offers suggestions on how to leverage recent security gains into development success with a focus on the areas that people care about most: jobs and basic services.

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Democrats in the House of Representatives delayed consideration of a free-trade agreement with Colombia last Thursday in a bid to force the Bush administration to improve support for U.S. workers displaced by foreign competition and to do more to ensure that Colombia reduces violence against union members. CGD president Nancy Birdsall and Council of the Americas CEO Susan Segal argue in a Christian Science Monitor op-ed that a free-trade agreement with Colombia makes sense. They suggest that the Bush administration expand Trade Adjustment Assistance in return for Democratic support for a pact that would boost investment, growth, and job creation in Colombia, since, along with good governance, these offer the best protection against human rights abuses and poor enforcement of labor and environmental standards.

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