The progress achieved in Iraq was evident to me on the drive from the airport.

As a diplomat serving in post-war Iraq from 2005 to 2007, I traveled often from the airport to the U.S. embassy in the heavily fortified Green Zone, riding in an armored vehicle with a security detail armed with automatic weapons.

Returning recently for the first time in 12 years, now as the president of an international humanitarian organization, I rode in a regular, unarmored car sans security to my hotel outside of the Green Zone in what was formerly the off-limits 'red zone.'

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