Heck George goes there regularly to "LOOK 'EM in the Eye". What better way to spell out the alphabet from A 2 Z.

SEND IN "THE UNITER" he can be the insurgent GOVERNOR, PRESIDENT and Protector of the Border.

Make certain that he has access to those Truck Loads of Flowers so that any in Iraq still living, can bless their savior of DEMON autocracy with.

Then again...> Send in another CLOWN.

How many sectarian acts of violence will it take before we admit that Iraq is the throws of a civil war. As for check stop killing stations, sort of sounds like Rwanda after the presidents plane "blew up". Hutus asked for ID's and any Tutsi was shepperded out of their car and hacked to death. What's the difference? Anyone?

Veldron may not be right, but his circumstantial case merits more than just "...you're wrong!!". The history of US intervention in third world conflicts is long and sad. This is not conspiracy theory (alternate, as opposed to government). This is well documented fact. Let's allow ourselves to dig a bit deeper before we blow this writer off because we think his case sucks. At least he/she tries to tie some factual history as backup.

I've said it before, and others have noted it as well here - the military industrial complex will do everything in its power to perpetuate the Iraq War and to foment new conflicts in the name of the "war on terror." Raytheon, Boeing, Northrop-Grumman, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, United Technologies, et al are making way too much money from the war to ever give up this cash cow. The Washington Post revealed today that Haliburton has made $14 billion off of the conflict in the last THREE years!!! Talk about extreme profits!! I think the problem with the American people, especially the folks who supported the war, is that they tend to think of war as some non-profit enterprise, when in fact there are companies making boatloads of money off of it. Meanwhile, the vets get screwed on the home front because the ADministration would rather piss away huge sums on fanciful weapons systems like Star Wars instead of spending the chump change needed to keep the VA hospitals open.

President Eisenhower warned us about this situation. Too bad we didn't listen to him.

I printed out and sent every article to my brother, serving with the invasion forces. At the time, I remember thinking of it as the single light of unbiased, unem-"bedded" and realistic reporting to come over, as well as one of the few sets of reporting to add a solid context to the events on the ground. Back then, Salon did not provide this excellent means to communicate back, but now that it does, I wish to thank you Phillip for doing a job that needed doing then, and risking your neck.

Now, when the stakes are much greater, both for you personally, and the world, I thank you again; if anything, the rarity of honest reporting is only overtaken by it's danger. What you are doing is heroic, in the truest sense of the word.

When people are looking for conspiracies, they always ask "who benefits?". Just because someone benefits, does not imply a conspiracy. Consider that had things gone as our administration expected, the oil companies and the defense industry would still benefit. Haliburton would get a juicy contract (which would not be scrutinized at all after a swift victory). Defense contractors would ride a wave of pro-military sentiment, and would be able to observe their products in action. They would also use the successful prosecution of the war as an argument for continued spending on conventional weapons systems. Finally, oil companies would have access to Iraq, which would be very lucrative in the long term and the short term.

In this case, I think truth is stranger than fiction. In my opinion, it was a perfect storm of incompetence, greed, fear, and ideological certainty that brought us to where we are today. An incurious and ill-qualified president formed a policy based on the fantastic assumptions of the neo-conservatives and Cheney's desire to control Middle Eastern oil, and sold it to a citizenry that was still scared silly from 9/11.

Even if one hates Bush, the idea of a Machiavellean puppeteer is somewhat more appealing than the idea that nobody is pulling the strings, or if they are, they really have no idea what they're doing. The only thing our administration seems concerned about is making sure this whole sordid mess looks good, or plausibly not bad, to the voters. I look at how bad things are getting in Iraq, and I wish we had a plan; even some dark conspiracy would be better then the unbridled and growing chaos that is occuring now.

Re: Fake ID's and Survival. "So, this is the insanity we've brought to Iraq - folks having to carry two ID cards around so they can have a chance of not getting killed by death squads from either sect."

Ares,

I agree heartily. If I remember high school world history correctly, didn't Catholics and Protestants kill and torture each other on the roads and highways, during the wars of the Reformation? If I remember correctly, that conflict really wasn't about religion, either. It was about politics: who was going to control Western Europe. Was it going to be those states allied with the Pope in Rome or those allied with the Protestants monarchs? [If anybody can shed more light on my sketchy memory, then please shed away.] Similarly, the conflict in Ulster isn't over religion, its over who is going to control the northern counties of Ireland: the Republicans loyal to the Irish Republic or Unionists loyal to London. Religion is just a screen. Humanity doesn't seem to change or heed the lessons of the past.

The reports of Muslims killing innocent civilians and committing other war crimes (i.e. torture) makes me feel violently ill. Both are forbidden by the Q'uran and are un-Islamic. The militias twist the ideals of Islam to suit their own political interests. [If you don't believe this statement, then read the Q'uran for yourself. The translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali (c. 1930's) has a good reputation among Islamic scholars for its authoritativeness.] It appears to me that a lot of people do it: some Christians, Buddhists, and Hindus selectively interpret their own religions to do the same.