Stuart Bowen Jr, the special inspector general for Iraq Reconstruction, testified on Capitol Hill on Thursday. Bowen has been a harsh critic of the incompetence, disorganization, and waste that has characterized U.S. reconstruction efforts in Iraq, which he has documented in a series of scathing reports since his appointment twenty months ago. Nonetheless, after having returned from his latest trip to Iraq last week, he now feels “cautious optimism . . . something that I had not returned from Iraq with . . . over the last twenty months.” As he put it: “It’s been about twenty months since I have returned from Iraq with a sense of cautious optimism. I have that now.” Below are some highlights from the hearing.