Washington seems to be a very small, very clubby, club ... but how the hell do you get promoted AFTER so many "bad calls" and serious "misreading" ... or is there some pathologic "enabling" or more likely "codependency" at work ...

as I recall, the article I read, suggested that it's no accident Wolfowitz, while happy to give the occasional interview or profile, has not authored articles or books for the public and/or posterity -- prolly the better to keep his "reputation" unsullied by refutable record ... sorta like declining to testify under oath, no?

I've been trying to find out when the next NATIONAL and/or regional election cycle in Iraq will occur ... and have found only that there may be some sort of otherwise-undefined national referendum this year (from old CIA fact book look up about 4 months ago), whether this is regarding the "constitution" (and all that stuff that was still to-be-determined when it was "ratified") or that pesky oil revenue sharing plan and/or the more of that pesky left-over Biden-supported/Kurd supported/Sadr and Sunni opposed partitioning scheme that would all peace and prosperity for two of the three proposed "parts" allowing the seething mid portion containing Sadr and most of the Sunni deposed ex-elite to seeth and rot in hell in the middle.

Anyone know more? I realize that this is a parlimentarian system so we won't see an Iraqi presidential race, but I was unable to find specified terms of service for Iraq government posts and I remain uncertain as to the status of provice/city elections/governance.

particularly with all "our" sniping at Maliki ... who is not a magician.

Karzai over in Afghanistan appears to be rapidly losing his "mandate" as well and he was actually relatively popular in that tiny fraction of the country he somewhat controlled.

First elections are "all well and good" but it's the second election cycle and the successful TRANSITION that's often the sticking point ...

Ironically, the last elections were of questionable validity because of Sunni boycotts ... while the next election will be questioned due to the generalized Iraqi exodus for survival.

What impact the as-far-as-I-know continued, ongoing, everlasting "state of emergency" might have on the actual HOLDING of elections, I can only guess it won't be good....

I love how, I think it was Petraeous came out yesterday or day before and said we should expect MORE violence as the surge rolls out ...

Reminds me of those agricultural forecasts where no matter the weather or how much or little rain, it's gonna mean higher prices at the supermarket.

it is a NONVIABLE non-alternative that merely complicates the "discussion."

I have listened to him, I appreciate his point of view and "history" but Iraq is NOT Yugoslavia or post-war Berlin or Japan and nobody has enough troops to set up such a partitioning, not to mention enforce such a thing ...

How clueless does one need to be .... don't words like "security wall" and "aparteid" spring quickly to mind?

I know he means well, but it's a fucking nonstarter ... it will merely codify and harden the various regional/sectarian factions.

I feel condescended to, now that EVERYONE wants this war to end, for our troops to "come home" ... but those pesky details like the bases and the embassy and the "strategic footprint" (to replace our Saudi bases) ... not to mention the 100,000+ contractors and our multinational corporate players and their contracts.

Someone on NPR this morning assured me that democrats, discouraged, disgruntled and even angry as they might be about this bill passing -- well, they'd get over it.

I anticipate some showdown moment in which Joe Biden and/or Hillary Clinton will seethingly explain that the American public isn't ready for THE TRUTH which, as far as I can tell means that America is going to protect her "interests" in Iraq, the Middle East ... and that those interests for the foreseeable future will be protected by American troops and contractors -- the will of the American people, the will of the Iraqi people be damned.

I'm waiting for someone to explain to me again that I have no alternative but to vote Democratic because ... well, y'know.

The candidates will not enjoy being asked to do the "vision thing". They will display avoidance, vagueness, hedging, and worse in discussing the process of extrication but I don't think it can or should be postponed until after that great-day-in-the-morning election victory and control of congress and a positive interpretation of goat entrails ... that Dawning of the Age of Aquarius...

If candidates believe public expectations are "unrealistic", I think we deserve to be told their "more realistic" plans, rather than "feeling our pain" or assuring us the depth of their own or reminding us that the future is uncertain.

As a party and as a country we have to discuss why we "need" bases in Iraq (and that enormous Embassy -- for balls and cotillions or as a heavily defended diplomatically-immune, American property, central bunker/base?), why not, say, in Afghanistan? We need to discuss our obligations for rebuilding Iraq and how we might respond if wholesale slaughter and/or Sunni genocide arises ... Afghanistan and Pakistan

As the ISG suggests, we NEED to sit down and discuss all these things -- but not only the various Iraqi factions but also with the American people. Anyone who believes that "we will leave if asked" probably believes in "The Secret" and that god who watches and grieves over every sparrow.