There are many ways to measure progress in Iraq. Most of them tend to involve unpleasant and horrifying metrics, with the goal to keep them as low as possible. But, every now and then, it's possible to find something to celebrate. These days, it's an increase in upscale Iraqi weddings. More than mere nuptials, the country has seen a spike in elaborate and well attended ceremonies.

During the week following Ramadan, a holiday called Eid al-Fitr, approximately 630 couples tied the knot in Baghdad's six most luxurious hotels, according to the Tourism and Antiques Ministry. This rivals the number of weddings at these hotels conducted in both July and August.

In past years, the high volume of weddings, particularly during Eid, wouldn't have been possible, as potential celebrants would have feared insurgent attacks, suicide bombers and other threats to safety. Though precise data isn't available, September is estimated to be the busiest wedding month since the war began in 2003.

Europe – the same corner of Europe, actually – claims the first three spots in Mercer Consulting's annual Quality of Living Survey. Vienna, Austria and Zurich and Geneva in Switzerland lead the list, followed by Vancouver, Canada and Auckland, New Zealand in a tie for fourth.

Little has changed for the top half of the top 10. Last year, Zurich nabbed the top spot, and Vienna and Geneva shared the #2 spot. Vancouver is unchanged year-over-year, and Auckland's #5 finish last year is roughly the same as its tie for fourth in 2009.

Not only are the top places to live ostensibly enjoyable, you're more likely to be there for a while. Life expectancies in these cities start at 79 years. It's better than living a nice long life in a dump, I guess.

The United States doesn't appear until the bottom of the top 30, with Honolulu and San Francisco. From Asia, only Singapore picks up a spot in the world's 30 best places to live. South America and Africa are not represented at all. It's strange, I half-expected to see Mogadishu on this list.

Of the 215 places listed, Baghdad has the distinction of finishing last. Sometimes, common sense prevails.

While we are constantly reminded of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we often lose site of the people serving. Sure, we support the troops and lament the fact that some are separated from their families for a year or longer ... with unfortunate regularity. But, these concepts remain abstract from those who don't don the uniform every day. Many have a friend or family member serving, but the vast majority is another step removed from the sacrifice. Chuck Ley, founder of the organization Cigars for Soldiers, is bridging the gap. His effort has added a personal and genuine touch to a "support the troops" message that the mainstream media has forced into cliché too soon.

Ley, like me, was a soldier. While my service entailed comfy pencil-pushing positions in Uijongbu, South Korea and Fort Gordon, Georga, he was an infantryman – the real deal – wounded in action in Mogadishu, Somalia. It wasn't the event immortalized in Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down, but few realize that we fought more than once over there. Though back in civilian life for more than a decade, Ley has not forgotten his time in uniform, and many of his friends continue to serve.

From time to time, Ley would get a phone call or e-mail from overseas, a friend in some far-flung place. The tone varied from casual inquiry to begging to near-demand: send cigars. How could a cigar-smoking former soldier refuse?

Shawn Carmody, of Phillipsburg, NJ, has made a habit of sending care packages to soldiers. Currently a police officer and owner of the Riverside Cigar Shoppe, he has been keeping New Jersey National Guard soldiers equipped with the accoutrements of tobacconic enjoyment. Thanks to Carmody, citizen-soldiers serving with C/102nd Cavalry have been receiving cigars, cutters and other related items from his store.

Carmody's friend, 1SG Tom Decker, is the top enlisted man in this unit (i.e. Charlie Company) and the benefactor's point of contact for the donations that ultimately wind up in the hands of many military personnel. This isn't Carmody's first care package ... that was a shipment of Tastykakes sent to Jimmy Polacari in Honduras in the late 1980s.

C/102nd Cav is expected to come home to Hackettstown, NJ in June, but Decker couldn't wait that long to express his thanks. So, he sent Carmody an American flag that had flown over Camp Syverson, Iraq – a substantial gesture that has no direct translation in the civilian world.

If you're inspired by Carmody's act of generosity, you can take action. Check out Cigars for Soldiers, an organization that has already sent more than 7,000 to U.S. military personnel overseas. (Many thanks to Don Pepin Garcia for his recent donation of five boxes.)

After a nearly six year wait, Iraq's National Museum has reopened. The museum which was rich in antiquities, many illustrating the long history of the region, was grievously plundered. Thousands of antiquities were looted and vandalized and only about a quarter of them have been retrieved. Around 15,000 artifacts and antiquities were stolen in the aftermath of the 2003 ousting of Saddam Hussein and around 7,000 of them are still missing. The push to open the museum is part of Baghdad's push to return toward normalcy. According to the BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad some locals think this move is coming too quickly, before the museum's collection has been properly cataloged or displayed.

Even a government can't sell a yacht in these tough times. The 269-foot yacht that once belonged to Saddam Hussein has failed to sell. The yacht will be towed from Greece to a Basra, Iraq. The Iraqi government has had the yacht on sale for $30 million since last fall. The yacht, was done up for Saddam Hussein in a lavish style with marble and gold and features a bulletproof atrium, two medical treatment centers and a swimming pool. It had been in Greece for maintenance work.

In case you haven't already seen it, here is the clip of a journalist in Iraq pelting George Bush with his shoes at a press conference (courtesy of YouTube user LenonHonorFilms).

Well, now there's more news. A Saudi man has offered $10 million for the shoes of Iraqi journalist/shoe thrower Muntadar Al Zaidi. The offer comes from sixty-year-old Hassan Mohammad Makhafa of Aseer (south west of Saudi Arabia). He's prepared to sell all his properties - which would be going to his sons - to purchase the shoes, which he describes as a "medal of freedom."

He apparently has plans to enshrine the shoes.

[via GulfNews.com]

Back in August, my colleague Deidre Woollard reported on a court ruling that Saddam Hussein's yacht Basra Breeze (formerly Ocean Breeze) belonged to the Iraqi government after a Cayman island firm partly owned by King Abdullah of Jordan claimed possession. Now the Iraqis have put the 269-ft. megayacht up for sale with a pricetag of $30 million, but the décor is so tacky and outdated it will require at least another $30 million to overhaul the ship, the London Times reports.

Launched in 1981, the ship features acres of marble and gold, Arabesque arches, dark wood carvings, "deep pile carpets in lurid colours and rugs woven with views of holy cities", and gold faucets in the bathrooms. There's also a bulletproof atrium with banquet seating for 200, two medical treatment centers and a mini operating theater, and a helipad. In Saddam's time the ship had a crew of up to 35 on 24-hour call, but the dictator was so paranoid he barely ever left Iraq or spent any time onboard.

Whether or not you support the reasons and politics behind why our troops are deployed, the troops themselves always deserve our support to make their service more pleasant and bearable. Books for Soldiers is a non-profit corporation that sends books to soldiers to help alleviate some of the boredom they face when isolated on bases in foreign countries and facing massive amounts of downtime. It's a great way to get rid of books you've already read (instead of taking them to a used book store) or why not buy the soldiers some books brand new? They certainly deserve it.

Thanks for the tip, Chad!

The Ocean Breeze, the lavish 269-foot yacht which once belonged to Saddam Hussein has been listed for sale for $34.45 million but now a French court has frozen the sale until the true owners can be established. The yacht has been moored at Nice since 2003 and is decorated with gold, silver, mahogany and marble (check out our gallery of the yacht from last November). The Iraq government is the chief contender for being the owner but it spent ten years in Saudi waters with 35 crew on permanent standby. Last spring the Saudis offered it to King Abdullah II of Jordan but Iraqi authorities said the yacht should be handed over to them. In the Guardian, the yacht broker Burgess, said that the sale is still going forward. Other assets of Saddam and his regime in France include two villas near Cannes.