Some incremental good news out of Iraq: The top U.S. watchdog there says the State Department is making progress with anti-corruption efforts in the country.

For the first time in three years' worth of efforts.

"Progress to this point is encouraging," Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen said in a report released today.

Over the past three years, Bowen has repeatedly examined U.S. anti-corruption efforts and barely found a pulse.  Or, as he noted dryly, "prior efforts to revitalize and coordinate U.S. anti-corruption efforts have been largely ineffective and suffered from a lack of management follow-through."

Underscoring the relative youth of this effort, Bowen said the progress he found heartening includes hiring new personnel, drawing up plans and appointing a new senior official to coordinate anticorruption initiatives.

The State Department and U.S. embassy seemed to agree with Bowen: he gave both organizations draft copies of his report, and neither submitted comments on his findings, the document stated.