not supporting him ... or if he was backing someone other than Allawi -- then their contract with Allawi would probably fail some "good faith" clause.

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Off/topic: I've been obsessing about American intervention in "other" elections ... it's funny how no one links the "Orange Revolution" with Putin's (oh my goodness, he's evil) roll back of democratic reforms etc.

It's sorta like how rarely there are links of Putin's (vastly popular in Russia) re-nationalization of petrochemicals to the robber baron oligarchs (many of whom had American/other non-Russian ties/allies, like Khorodorovsky, and were anti-Putin).

Perhaps, as our press/government would have us believe, Putin is the next Mussolini or Tito or Hitler or Franco, making the trains run on time and putting a chicken in every pot... but the reality seems to be -- gosh -- more complicated.

url: Radio free Europe - Ukraine: Did West Pull Up Stakes Too Soon? April 2007

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/04/7ce4b094-ade6-4322-9a8c-be42355a9674.html

under a contract ... particularly a "government contract."

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I have to get back to work ... just wanted to mention, because I think it's worth noting, that Tom Friedman uses the "G" genocide word in describing the 500+ dead bombing in Iraq ... the word was used earlier ... imho, it's important ... for all those who claim we cannot leave iraq because "genocide" will break out -- hey, it's already here and the surge ain't stopping it, it isn't even slowing it down ...

and for all our pious handwringing about Rwanda and Darfor and other unaddressed crises..... this "genocide" is happening on OUR watch ... I said a few days that we needed to "do the math" and face the music on the daily Iraqi civilian death tolls ... that it certainly appeared to be at least approaching "genocide" levels when compared to say Bosnia ... on our watch ...

Now, "genocide" is not a word I lightly throw around -- hence the quote marks ... but there is a humanitarian disaster in Iraq, on our watch, and we appear unable to do anything about it ... while we dither about troop reduction schedules and our casualties and money better spent elsewhere...

Lead, follow or get out of the way ... or just get out ... Iraq for the Iraqis.

and, irrc, at least partially removes our Geneva responsibilities as an "occupying force" (the term of which expires after 1 year) ...

I'm a peace-mongerer from way back, but I am appalled at the depth of incompetence and vulnerability we are demonstrating not only in Iraq but also in New Orleans ... and we certainly appear to be learning nothing from these debacles.

It's as if we're an enormous 4-year old having a tantrum ... the world is waiting for us to wear ourselves out... unfortunately, the Iraqi people are the ones suffering while we rage at their ungratefulness, their sulleness, their dishonesty and duplicity.

The neocons were counting on the Iraqis greeting us as liberators (some did) and then as allies and then setting down to work rebuilding a new democratic Iraq ...

Since TeamBush refuses to admit any other error ... and seems to view any genuine change of course to be "admitting error" we are apparently doomed to waiting also, for us to wear ourselves out.

We have neither the legitimate authority nor, likely, the actual military power to order or force the Iraqis to do anything ... We would have to revert from "sovereign iraq" back to "hostile occupation" and then back to a state of war ... and nobody's going to buy into that.

and the militias, in large part because they were flanked on sectarian lines (the Sunni and Baathists having been forbidden employment in the civil service army and police then, understandably, formed their own neighborhood militias to provide service to their community; Al-Sadr's religious umbrella apparently was providing services to his impoverished slum dwellers who had suffered neglect under Saddam and merely expanded, under liberation, into an armed militia, unthinkable under Saddam).

anyhow ... the militias -- our fault ... the sectarian split evolving into civil war -- also ours.

There were numerous opportunities to acknowledge and address these problems ... we didn't.

He based this on out retreat from Lebanon after the barracks bombing and our retreat from Somalia after Blackhawk down ...

The fact is that he is largely correct ... I don't know how "America" would respond to a Third Reich ... but I do think that most Americans view "others" as far away and not very important ...

Fwiw, I opposed invading Afghanistan ... a few teams of special ops could have gotten the job done wrt Bin Laden and -- with the world community at our backs, the Taliban could have dealt with largely "diplomatically" ... whatever. I don't believe that war "works" ... it's a last resort, in response to genuine attack ...

Anyhow. I think that our "war" in Iraq has been hobbled continually by a "need" to keep both troop levels and casualities down -- to keep the war off the radar ...

The militias arose out of vigilantism in response to lawlessness. We failed to even provide security for police/army recruitment centers and training facilities and these people's transportation back and forth ... as far as I could tell we were, apparently, stuck in our Humvees "patrolling." When we were a "presence", we were rude,abrasive and intrusive and hostile, and wrt reconstruction arrogant, self-serving and incompetent.

Sorry, I'm just a little crazy with people blaming "where we are now" on some centuries old Iraqi sectarianism .... that's just more of refusing to learn the lessons in favor of blaming somebody else.

Undoing this slide into "gangland" (militias) may take decades, but the first step is making the militias NOT THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN ... by providing those services ... and providing EMPLOYMENT ... gangs provide meaning to the lives of their memebers and they are populated -- always -- by unemployed, usually young males ...

it's not so complicated.