The Cost of a New Government

As the Iraqi assembly begins to resemble a government, offering hopes that it could be the start of a peaceful power-sharing arrangement between Sunnis, Kurds and Shiite factions, the first Congessional Medal of Honour for the Iraq liberation has been awarded - posthumously:

Outnumbered and exposed, Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith stayed
at his machine gun, beating back an advancing Iraqi force until a
bullet took his life. Smith is credited with protecting the lives of
scores of lightly armed American soldiers who were beyond his
position in the battle, on April 4, 2003, near the gates of Baghdad
International Airport. On Monday, exactly two years after Smith's
death, President Bush awarded him the Medal of Honor, the nation's
highest honor for valor.