According to the Sunday edition of the Daily Telegraph, those ExcuseMongering Stay the Course pundits, politicos, courtiers, and assorted court jesters are going to look pretty foolish and that right soon. Would be folly to set a timetable.

Wouldn't it?

UK, US to withdraw Iraq forces by early '07: Britain Driving Force Behind Plan 

Looks like Tony's trying to get right with God.

Case for Impeachment...an excerpt of a lengthy essay  by Louis Lapham in the current issue of Harpers.  That man can write. A lost art.

Lapham writes: "Before reading the (Conyers) report, I wouldn't have expected to find myself thinking that such a course of action was either likely or possible; after reading the report, I don't know why we would run the risk of not impeaching the man. We have before us in the White House a thief who steals the country's good name and reputation for his private interest and personal use; a liar who seeks to instill in the American people a state of fear; a televangelist who engages the United States in a never-ending crusade against all the world's evil, a wastrel who squanders a vast sum of the nation's wealth on what turns out to be a recruiting drive certain to multiply the host of our enemies. In a word, a criminal -- known to be armed and shown to be dangerous."

As Tony Blair blathrs about his Divine Inspiration to mass murder and neocons line up at OpEd confessionals, this comment on Robert Kaplan's repentance is, I think, a tad harsh, but trenchant.(War in Context)

 

Comment -- Robert Kaplan expresses a commonplace view of what went wrong in Iraq: the American mistake was not to recognize the fractured nature of the country and thus anticipate the anarchy that would be unleashed by toppling the regime. It's a way of looking at the situation that serves to diminish American culpability. It amounts to saying, that place was so badly broken before we got there that there's no way we could fix it. It's a kind of innocent ignorance that serves as a balm to a troubled conscience. It's a way of avoiding confronting the possibility that this horrible mess is of our own making; that it happened not because this was Iraq's fate but because a dreadful amount of power could freely be exercised by a dangerously ignorant American administration supported by people whose knowledge of the world is pitifully limited.

Kaplan is correct in concluding that, "Political change is nothing we need to force upon people; it's something that will happen anyway." What he fails to observe is that the American urge to change other countries is driven by a conviction that we can know where to lead them even if we don't understand their history or culture - it's a quasi-religious conceit that parades itself as goodwill. And now, even while Americans in increasing numbers believe that the "US should mind its own business internationally," an influential minority is still intent on pursuing an evangelical foreign policy agenda.

Even now, there are those in the Pentagon who imagine that they have the capacity to "amplify the moderate forces" in the Middle East, yet no clearer measure of America's current influence in the region can be seen than in a recent statement from Syria's liberal opposition. Damascus Declaration turned down $5 million offered by the U.S. State Dept., saying that its credibility would be damaged if it accepted the cash. Founding member Hassan Abdel Atheem told Reuters, "Our project is nationalist, independent democratic change in Syria, not through occupation or economic pressure as we see the United States doing."

George Bush likes to say that the "liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity," but autonomy and independence are not gifts from a god or anything else; they are things that every creature craves. Their loss is what saps the spirit of a caged animal and their expression is what makes life pulsate.

We the People have spoken. 

Game Over Gallup: 2 Out of 3 Americans Want U.S. Pull Out from Iraq
By Eidtor &Publisher Staff

NEW YORK While newspaper editorials remain virtually silent on the subject, the American public seems to have made up its mind. A new Gallup/CNN/USA Today poll out tonight shows that 2 out of 3 adult Americans now want U.S. troops to start to come home from Iraq. And 55% call the decision to attack Iraq in 2003 a "mistake."

The same poll found President Bush's approval rating plunging to 38%. It was even lower in a CBS poll earlier this week: 34%.

In the poll, 38% said some troops should be withdrawn from Iraq now with another 27% saying they all should come home.

Bush's handling of Iraq drew the support of just 35%, while 64% said they disapprove.

Of the 1,020 adults surveyed, 59% said President Bush can no longer manage the government effectively. An overwhelmingly number say they oppose the Dubai ports deal. Asked who they would likely vote for in November, 53% picked Democrats, 39% Republicans.

But where oh where are my Democratic Party "leaders" and where oh where is my "Leadership? Council

 Benchmark of Incompetence: US Creating Terrorists Faster Than It Call Kill Em - US Gen. (Washington Times)

October 16, 2003

TO: Gen. Dick Myers
Paul Wolfowitz
Gen. Pete Pace
Doug Feith

FROM: Donald Rumsfeld

SUBJECT: Global War on Terrorism

The questions I posed to combatant commanders this week were: Are we winning or losing the Global War on Terror? Is DoD changing fast enough to deal with the new 21st century security environment? Can a big institution change fast enough? Is the USG changing fast enough?


Today, we lack metrics to know if we are winning or losing the global war on terror. Are we capturing, killing or deterring and dissuading more terrorists every day than the madrassas and the radical clerics are recruiting, training and deploying against us?

Does the US need to fashion a broad, integrated plan to stop the next generation of terrorists? The US is putting relatively little effort into a long-range plan, but we are putting a great deal of effort into trying to stop terrorists. The cost-benefit ratio is against us! Our cost is ...

Please be prepared to discuss this at our meeting on Saturday or Monday.

Thanks.

Cole's been speculating that something might be up twixt Iraq and the Turks. At least enough to have thrown another huge monkey wrench into the machinery of Failed State governance, but I rather suspect more.

I'd say it is no more than a rumor. but a Turkish newspaper is reporting that Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari asked Turkey to send troops to Iraq to replace the Americans on his recent trip to that country. A Bulgarian news wire says,
"According to the information the proposal was made by Jaafari to the Turkish Prime Minister Reccep Tayip Erdogan during the Iraqi Prime Minister’s visit to Ankara on Tuesday. According to the publication Jaafari has said: “The USA failed. USA cannot establish peace in Iraq. Only Turkey could do this.” '


Turkey might be tempted. Although all sides are now denying a statement attributed to a Czech diplomat that Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told him that if Coalition troops withdrew, Iraq would fall to the "Iranian model" (i.e. clerical, Islamist government), which then might spread to Turkey. Whether Gul said this out loud is irrelevant. Certainly the Turkish elite is very worried about Iranian hegemony in Iraq and Iranian and Iraqi Shiite influence spreading in Turkey. Turkey has hard line Sunni Islamists who hate Shiism but take some inspiration from Iran. About 20 percent of Turks are Alevis, a Shiite sect that is heterodox, often secular, and not mostly interested in Iranian style clerical Shiism. But similar heterodox groups among Iraqi Turkmen in the north in the past two decades became followers of the Sadr Movement, and the Turks may worry that the Alevis could go in that direction. Turkey offered to station troops in Anbar Province a couple of years ago, but that move was blocked by the Kurds.

If these rumors about the substance of Jaafari's recent visit to Turkey had reached Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi Kurdish leader and current president, it would explain his vehement outburst and attack on Jaafari, and the subsequent Kurdish-Sunni attempt to get Jaafari dumped as candidate for Prime Minister in the new government.

Juan Cole has a headline sampler today.  Gives us a good perspective on just how much Bush's Iraq War has screwed up the US public's mass mind.

Friday Headlines to Make You Laugh and Cry at the Same Time

"Rumsfeld Cautions against too Many Troops in Iraq". I swear to God, that is what it says.

"Iraq now 'Less Safe'. Oh, I'd say so.

"Pentagon Dismisses US Troop Poll". A Pentagon spokesman actually said, "It shouldn't surprise anybody that a deployed soldier would rather be at home than deployed . . ."

Is that what Bush has been saying? "It is also important for every American to understand the consequences of pulling out of Iraq before our work is done. . . We would undermine the morale of our troops by betraying the cause for which they have sacrificed."

Now it turns out the troops think the US should get out within a year.

"Iran to Invest $1 Billion in Iraq"

"Late 30s aren't Too Late to Enlist". Jonah Goldberg, Michael Rubin and Dan Senor alert.

Fox News asks, "Could All-Out Civil War in Iraq be a Good Thing?" You can't make this stuff up.

Followed by: "Iraq Civil War: Made up by the Media?".

I found this to be an interesting compendium to say the least. Conservative All-Stars Against the War - Bush Has Lost the Troops

• Gen. Joseph P. Hoar, a retired four-star general, was commander of the U.S. Central Command (1991-94) and of U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf after the 1991 war, who described the Iraq War as "wrong from the beginning, and so as is often the case, it's very hard to make it right once you start down the wrong road."
• Gen. William Odom, ret., former national security adviser to Presidents Carter and Reagan, who wrote "What's Wrong with Cutting and Running?," in which he persuasively argued that the war is serving the interests of Osama bin Laden and the Iranians, and is fomenting civil war in Iraq. He describes the Iraq war as "the most strategic foreign policy disaster in U.S. history."
• Brent Scowcroft, President George H.W. Bush's national security adviser, who described the Iraq war as a "failing venture" weeks before the last presidential election and argued in 2002, before the decision to invade Iraq, that: "An attack on Iraq at this time would seriously jeopardize, if not destroy, the global counterterrorist campaign we have undertaken."
• Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser to President Carter, who labeled Bush's foreign policy "suicidal statecraft" in a Los Angeles Times commentary: "Flailing away with a stick at a hornets' nest while loudly proclaiming 'I will stay the course' is an exercise in catastrophic leadership."
• John Deutch, head of the Central Intelligence Agency from 1995-96 and deputy defense secretary 1994-95, who called for U.S. troops to immediately leave Iraq in June 2005.

And right on as ever

John Murtha "The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion. The American public is way ahead of us. The United States and coalition troops have done all they can in Iraq, but it is time for a change in direction. Our military is suffering. The future of our country is at risk. We can not continue on the present course."

I don't know about Zbig. Yes they have hornets in Texas but a better metaphor might be walking barefoot through fireant hills.

With this disaster coming apart at the speed of well..cyberspeed..no one will be safe. Not even my former Mayor and Senator. The author has a good point - Bush will be Bush.  Those democrats who try to do the same should be turned out of office. No more excuses. No more cowardice. Enough is enough Senator Feinstein's War Profiteering

It happens all the time. If the antiwar movement takes on the Democrats for their bitter shortcomings, a few liberals are bound to criticize us for not hounding Bush instead. It doesn't even have to be an election year to get the progressives fired up. They just don't seem to get it. "How can you attack the Democrats when we have such a bulletproof administration ruling the roost in Washington?" somebody recently e-mailed me. "Don't you have something better to do than write this trash?!" Well, not really. It's too cold in upstate New York right now to do anything other than fume over the liberal villains in Washington. "Why do I write about the putrid Democratic Party?" I responded, "I'll tell you, there's a reason this Republican administration is so damn bulletproof – nobody from the opposition party is taking aim and pulling the trigger." And that's why the Dems are just as culpable in all that has transpired since Bush took office in 2000. They aren't just a part of the problem – the Democrats are the problem.

Happy Mardi Gras from Professor Longhair!

Don't let Bush screw New Orleans. Demand Level 5 Levee protection. If the Dutch can protect Rotterdam, America can rebuild and protect New Orleans.

Bush job rating falls to all-time low: poll

President George W. Bush's job rating has fallen to an all-time low of 34 percent, amid strong opposition to the Dubai Ports World deal and increasing pessimism over the war in Iraq, according to a CBS News poll released on Monday.

Bush's overall job approval fell eight points from 42 percent last month. Fifty-nine percent of respondents said they disapproved of Bush's performance on the job, the poll found.

Bush's previous low job approval rating of 35 percent came last October, a month after Hurricane Katrina laid waste to the Gulf Coast and shortly after the U.S. death toll in Iraq reached the 2,000 mark, CBS said.

Long among his strongest suits, ratings for Bush's handling of Iraq fell to a new low of 30 percent, down from 37 percent in January, the poll found.

In addition, 62 percent of Americans said they think U.S. efforts to bring stability and order to Iraq were going badly compared with 36 percent who said things were going well.

When will the Democratic "leadership"start listening to Bruce Jentleson and his colleagues?  Last summer they screwed up the courage to demand that Bush layout a strategy for success. Bush went em one better. He put Dr. Feaver to work feverishly and the new NSC member put together the National Strategy for Victory in Iraq which Bush used in his December Election Charm Offensive.

This is not policy making folks. This is not a loyal oppostion. This is the American Political System as farce.

Today George Bush told the US Governors Conference that he had three pronged strategy for fighting terrorism:

1. Syping on US citizens ("Ask the NSA for details" he told the governors!!!)
2. Take it to the enemy that lurks
3. Press on with the Freedom & Democracy Crusade

The governors politely clapped. I didn't hear any laughter, but why not? He is so obviously making this stuff up as he goes along and on point three of Bush Doctrine (rev. 14?), Michael Scheuer has  a few trenchant observations. Speaking of the recent Hamas victory and what he sees another fundamental failure of Bush ME policy, the blown opportunity presented in the recent elections:

Sadly, the opportunity went a-glimmering because of the three standby myths that dominate what passes for thought among America's bipartisan foreign policy, academic, and governing elites. The first holds that the survival of Israel and/or a Palestinian state is a central national-security interest for the United States. The second argues that all states have a "right" to exist. The third is that no state is "legitimate" if it refuses to accept the existence of a second state or argues that the second state should be destroyed. The three myths amount to a comprehensive attack on the common sense of the average American, as well as on U.S. national interests.

Michael Scheuer, Embracing a Lethal Tarbaby

I asked a few questions that never received  answers. (Jo-Ann Mort's, Scoring Political Points on the Backs of Palestinian Poverty)

• Why is the exsistence of Israel in the US national interest?
• Why must we continue to subsidize settlements in the West Bank with 6 billion in aid each year, every year?
•  Why do we so uncriitically embrace AIPAC/Israel's claim that "Israel is an American Value"?
• Are we, as Marty Peretz I believe put it after 9/11, "all Israelis now?" Have we ever been?

The silence both deafending and answering

To put the matter in economic terms, the US "marketplace of ideas" has failed due to an asymetry of accurate information. In other words, when it comes to the War in Iraq, we the people don't what in the hell is really going on. 

With a media and organized intelligensia made up largely of Bush synchophants, it has been extremely difficult for the voting public to obtain reliable information. Literally consumers have had to search far and wide.

Over the years of fact-fit-around-the-policy, the International Crisis Group has consistenty provided accurate analysis.

Sunni-Shia schism 'threatening to tear Iraq apart', says conflict group

Michael Howard in Irbil
Monday February 27, 2006
The Guardian

Iraq is on the verge of breaking up along religious, ethnic and tribal lines - a process bloodily amplified by the Shia versus Sunni violence in the wake of last week's bomb attack on the gold-domed shrine in Samarra, the International Crisis Group says in a report out today. 

The conflict resolution organisation warns that, left unchecked, the widening fissures in Iraqi society that have been exposed since the removal of the Ba'athist regime in 2003 could bring further "instability and violence to many areas, especially those with mixed populations".

The most pressing problem is the Sunni-Shia schism which "threatens to tear the country apart" says the report, entitled The Next Iraqi War? It urges Iraqi leaders and the international community to take immediate action to prevent the conflict from escalating into a civil war that could cause Iraq's disintegration and spread chaos through the region.

But it also calls for the international community, including Iraq's neighbours, to start preparing for the "regrettable" scenario in which the country falls apart.

"Until now, such an effort has been a taboo, but failure to anticipate such a possibility may lead to further disasters in the future," the ICG warns.

United for Peace and Justice is sponsoring a National Call In Day Against Iraq War Funding.  UFPJ is one of the two umbrella groups that have mobilized every anti-war demonstration  from the start. (They're the moderate partner to ANSWER)

This will be a prelude to 3d Anniversary demonstrations in March. Information follows. UFPJ site here.

Not One Penny More for War! National Call-In Day Tuesday Feb. 28

Call the Capitol Hill Switchboard on Tuesday Feb. 28th at 202-224-3121 and ask to speak to your Representative (or one of your Senators). Give them this basic message in your own words: "I strongly oppose the war in Iraq. I want all our troops brought home safely, without delay. I urge Representative X to vote against the President's $72.4 billion 'emergency' supplemental request for the war." More Info:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/8237

The Republicans who run Congress will include small amounts of money for all sorts of good things in the supplemental or group of supplementals to be voted on. This will provide your Representative all sorts of noble excuses for voting for a lot more money for war. Tell them this position will only be credible if they cosponsor Rep. Jim McGovern's bill, which simply ends funding for the war:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/end

To see how your Representative has voted on the war, download the UFPJ Congressional Scorecard (in Excel spreadsheet format) by clicking here:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The bombing and bloodshed that pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war have propelled anti-American firebrand Muqtada al-Sadr to the forefront of Iraqi politics. The young Shiite cleric who twice defied America in 2004 now has emerged as a major threat to U.S. plans for Iraq

Muqtada Sadr Center Stage in Iraq
AP

I am not sure, but I am pretty sure that many Muslims in Iraq and elsewhere do. I am certain of one other thing - a Cabal of Fools occupies Washington DC

To the Busheviks of Failure. Welcome back to Planet Earth. How was the Mission to Mars anyway?

FOCUS | William F. Buckley: It Didn't Work

"I can tell you the main reason behind all our woes - it is America." William F. Buckley explores the violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Iraq, finding that the "troublemaker in the middle" who is propelling the clash is the interfering United States.