BAGHDAD, IRAQ – Legislators from the Iraqi Government and officials at the Pentagon confirmed today that all US military veterans that participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom would be eligible to receive a new decoration on behalf of the grateful Iraqi people: the Kurdish-Iraqi-Levantine Liberation Medal of Excellence.

"We've been debating the merits of a liberation medal ever since 2003," said acting Iraqi Minister of Defense Saadoun al-Dulaymi, "but somehow it never made the top of our priority list until now."

Showing reporters the original document from 2003 authorizing a liberation medal, al-Dulaymi made a half-hearted effort to cover up the dozen bullet holes and large piece of shrapnel embedded in the paper.

When asked if the dark red stain along the bottom of the document was blood, al-Dulaymi shrugged and said, "Probably."