Iraq ranks #2 on failed state index.

Sudan ranks first and Iraq ranks second in a new ranking of 177 countries in order of their “vulnerability to violent and internal conflict and societal deterioration.” Iraq’s position “dropped for a third consecutive year.” Nevertheless, as Salon’s Tim Grieve points out, U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker yesterday “said the situation in Iraq now is ‘a mixed picture’ but ‘not by any means a hopeless one.’”