Great plan. Might have worked a year ago. I don't think it will now.

Former US presidential advisor Brzezinski presents plan to quit Iraq

Polish-born former US national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski has put together a four-point plan for the United States to withdraw from Iraq.

The plan would allow Washington to disengage gradually in Iraq, "without victory, but also without defeat," said Brzezinski, who worked for US President Jimmy Carter.

The first step would involve "Washington suggesting to the Iraqi authorities that they publicly ask the United States to pull out of Iraq," he told private Polish television TVN24.

Next, a date would be set for US troops to be pulled out, following which the Iraqi government should invite its neighbours to a "regional conference of Muslim countries" aimed at stabilising the situation in Iraq, Brzezinski said.

Lastly, the United States should call an international conference to discuss funding for the reconstruction of Iraq.

"I think that a programme such as this one, set up in the space of one year, would close the affair in such a way that we might not be able to speak of a clear victory, but also not of defeat or running away," Brzezinski said.

Poland, which has backed the US-led military campaign in Iraq since it began three years ago, should work with Washington to make the plan reality, said Brzezinski, stressing that the intended end result was "in the interests of both countries."

That's unmistakable bottom line of a rather lengthy analysis

2006 Election Outlook: The Macro and the Micro
by Ruy Teixeira

NATIONALIZE THE 2006 ELECTION!

How to do that? How do you nationalize the 2006 election? Well gee, take a wild A guess.

The Democrats hoped Iraq would go away in 2002 and in 2004 they didn't know what to do. This year maybe they'll take Karl Rove's good advice (albeit to Republican candidates) and run on Iraq!

Public Continues to Sour on Bush's Crusade


The vast majority of the U.S. public appears to have grown thoroughly disillusioned with President George W. Bush's crusade to spread democracy abroad, according to a new survey by one of the country's premier public opinion analysts.

The survey, designed by Daniel Yankelovich, also found that public concern about U.S. dependence on foreign energy sources has skyrocketed in recent months, and has now joined Iraq as the kind of foreign policy issue that can do serious harm to politicians if they are seen as failing to respond effectively to the problem.

Ruy Teixeira urged Democrats to run on Iraq in 2004 too. Will they run away again? Have you seen that bowl of pablum the Democratic Party leaders call a "National Security Strategy?"

 Three strikes, and the Democrats are out - for a long time.

He's back! Perhaps you saw his 2004 Presidential commercial

Will Ferrell - Bush on Global Warming

Those rays are intensifying in such a way as it's increasing lava flows...I start my day thinking about warming of the globe and how we can get it warmer..Seems liberals and godless tax raisers are trying to make me look bad by using such things as facts and scientific data

Kudos to Jim Webb for scolding Democrats too petrified with fear, too cowed to speak out.

 If you're Hillary Clinton, Harold Ford, or Marshall Wittman, you must fall silent before horse muanure like this

Bush Blames Saddam for Iraq Instability

While a pride(?) of feral cats has the Democrats' tongues

Fasten Your Seat Belt
The war in Iraq is about to escalate


With the American raid on the Mustafa mosque, the occupation of Iraq is rapidly reaching a point at which it is no longer tenable: as the Shi'ite giant awakens, the country is about to become a battleground in a much larger war, one that will envelop much of the Middle East.

Smooth Moves Ex-Lax

Shiites Say U.S. Is Pressuring Iraqi Leader to Step Aside
By EDWARD WONG

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 28 — Senior Shiite politicians said today that the American ambassador has told Shiite leaders to inform the Iraqi prime minister that the Bush administration does not want him to remain the leader of Iraq in the next government.

It is the first time the Americans have directly intervened in the furious debate over the country's top job, the politicians said, and it is inflaming tensions between the Americans and some Shiite leaders.

The ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, told the head of the main Shiite political bloc at a meeting last Saturday to pass a "personal message from President Bush" on to the prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who the Shiites insist should stay in his post, said Redha Jowad Taki, a Shiite politician and member of Parliament who was at the meeting.

Ambassador Khalilzad said that President Bush "doesn't want, doesn't support, doesn't accept" Mr. Jaafari to be the next prime minister, according to Mr. Taki, an aide to Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the Shiite bloc. It was the first "clear and direct message" from the Americans on the issue of the nominee for prime minister, Mr. Taki said. A spokeswoman for the American embassy declined to comment directly on what Ambassador Khalilzad discussed in his meeting on Saturday, though she confirmed the ambassador did see Mr. Hakim.

A spokesman for Mr. Jaafari said the prime minister had heard of the message through officials in his party, and accused the Americans of trying to subvert Iraqi sovereignty and weaken the Shiite ranks.

"How can they do this?" said Haider al-Ubady, the spokesman. "An ambassador telling a sovereign country what to do is unacceptable."

"The perception is very strong among certain Shia parties that the U.S., led by Khalilzad, is trying to unseat Jaafari," he added.

Tensions between Shiite leaders and the American government, which had been rising for months, have reached a crisis point following an assault Sunday night by American and Iraqi forces on a Shiite mosque in northern Baghdad. Shiite leaders say at least 17 civilians were killed in the battle, mostly political party members, while American commanders say those killed were insurgents.

• Shia Groups Unite Against US After Mosque Raid
  
• Cole: As Many as 90 Killed
  Badr Demands Khalilzad's Expulsion
  

Juan Cole was a guest on ABC World News Tonight and the NewsHour. In case you missed it as I did...

In case you missed it (both) as I did...

 

NewsHour March 27, 2006, 8pm EST
Al-Sadr Influence Grows in Iraq

The scion of one of Iraq's most powerful Shiite clerical families, Muqtada al-Sadr has emerged as one of the most potent political and military leaders in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq and as one of the most vocal critics of the U.S. occupation.

Judith Yaphe, former Middle East analyst at the CIA, and Juan Cole, a history professor at the University of Michigan, explain al-Sadr's evolving role in Iraq.

Profile: Muqtada al-Sadr

I haven't watched 24/7 news networks or much of national network news lately, relying on the NewsHour most nights but I have seen a few ABC WorldNews shows lately and seems they've been a bit miffed lately after GWB and Cheney decided to haul out the media a whipping boys for their latest road show.

Couldn't have anything to do with Bob Woodruff would it?

None of the above?

 What's the big problem here? Whether Democratic candidates choose to make an impeachment an issue, censure or not makes no difference whatever - just so all of them talk about the laws Bush is violating (that we know about) and the ones he plans to violate tomorrow.

Cheney of Command
Ask the veep which laws bind the White House
March 27, 2006 Issue
The American Conservative

Why do we have to complicate the matter so much?

Don van Atta, NyT, reports in detail on Bush/Bliar discussions in early 2003 from a mmemo previously disclosed on GB Channel 4.

Clearly, we're dealing with a criminal conspiracy to violate international law against launching wars of aggression but I found this to be the most well - ironic? tragic? comical? criminal?

The memo indicates the two leaders envisioned a quick victory and a transition to a new Iraqi government that would be complicated, but manageable. Mr. Bush predicted that it was "unlikely there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups." Mr. Blair agreed with that assessment.

 

The Pew Poll asked respondents recently for one word to describe Bush

Incompetent+Idiot+Liar=67%

Note candidate number two.   Michael's the partner of the rector of my parish!!  He was added by pettion when the Search Committee failed to include him in the list of nominees

Welcome to Tal Afar
"Free" errr..make that Fear City, BushIraq
Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times

The End of Iraq -Iraq Shi'ites accuse US troops

It is only order, discipline, command and control that separate an army from a heavily armed mob and atrocities aer a sure sign of morale breakdown in any Occupation army in any age or circumstance. That's what's going on now in Bush's New Iraq.

As Andrew Cockburn noted in a report the other day, the War for Baghdad has just begun..the army will disintegrate and so too the state.  No wonder 72%  want the US out by the end of the year. The troops are the first to realize what it really means to die for nothing

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Politicians from     Iraq's Shi'ite majority accused U.S. troops of massacring 20 worshippers at a Baghdad mosque on Sunday but police and residents said many died in clashes between Shi'ite militia fighters and Americans.

Politicians from Iraq's Shi'ite majority accused U.S. troops of massacring 20 worshippers at a Baghdad mosque on Sunday but police and residents said many died in clashes between Shi'ite militia fighters and Americans.

U.S. military spokesmen declined comment on the accusations but issued a statement describing a raid by Iraqi special forces, with U.S. advisers, on a building that was not a mosque in roughly the same area. It said 16 insurgents were killed.

Police said U.S. forces clashed with the Mehdi Army militia of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, killing 20 fighters.

Time to Bring the Boys Home
Iraqis killed by US troops ‘on rampage’
Claims of atrocities by soldiers mount
Times UK

Yes they're getting a little rambunctious. Snakes and snails and puppy dog tails, they will be boyz and when the atrocities start to multiply, it is a good sign they're fed up with dying for nothing.