The U.S. recovery is dismal when compared with other post-World War Two recessions and is far from where it should be in terms of growth and employment. But this may be the best that we can expect with the tools that the government has used.
The U.S. identified the new Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, an Egyptian with ties to Ayman al-Zawahiri. Zawahiri was the number two in command of Al-Qaeda.

"We think that Abu Ayyub al-Masri is in fact, probably, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir. They are probably one and the same" said Major General William Caldwell, spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq.

Abu Ayyub al-Masri is thought to specialise in bomb making.

The announcement came eight days after Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who had been identified by al-Qaeda as its leader in Iraq, had been "terminated" in a U.S. airstrike near Baqubah.