Googling Iraq

Want a positive sign that security in Iraq is improving?

Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt finished up a three-day business trip to Iraq on Tuesday, where, among other things, he kicked off a Google project to digitize and electronically catalog 14,000 artifacts in the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad.

Agence France Presse, the French newswire service, reported that the undisclosed cost of the digitization project will be split between Google and the State Department. Asked of Google planned more projects in Iraq, Schmidt said, "I'm sure we'll add more."

Schmidt had high praise for the troops in Iraq. He told the Pentagon Channel that "the overwhelming impression that I have of Iraq is the courage of the soldiers and the people who assist the soldiers. . . . These are people to be celebrated."