The corporate-ocracy, i.e. wealthy individuals, are raking it in...

Chaos breeds Profits

Organization breeds Competition

If this isn't chaos...?

With one caveat...the public are be very mad after all we are going to “pay” for this, in several financial ways for years and years

...the republicans put together the Iraq study group as a nice juicy ambiguous Pacifier...are we all sucking on it, or do we get bored before we've absorbed the 142 page half column ISG pdf?

Othes have said it better...

Bush will say he is doing whatever he thinks we want to hear (ie quits antagonizing us) or the Republicans may impeach him, but until then he will continue to do as he is called by his Lord Jesus Christ incarnate within.

He speaks what he says

And means what he thinks

(except for the appointment of an American -Muslim resource coordinator and staff(best idea yet))ISG-

"The United States must try to talk directly to Grand Ayatollah Sistani and must consider appointing a high-level American Shia Muslim to serve as an emissary to him. The United States must also try to talk directly to Moqtada al-Sadr, to militia leaders, and to insurgent leaders. The United Nations can help facilitate contacts."

"It is the unanimous view of the Iraq Study Group that these recommendations offer a new way forward for the United States in Iraq and the region. They are comprehensive and need to be implemented in a coordinated fashion.

RECOMMENDATION 22: The President should state that

the United States does not seek permanent military bases in Iraq. If the Iraqi government were to request a temporary base or bases, then the U.S. government could consider that request as it would in the case of any other government.

right, yea, sure

Don't forget the rest of what Humpty Dumpty said: "The question is...which is to be master--that's all."

Jeff wrote:

yield to no one in my admiration of James Madison, but he knew only the best practices of 1787, not the present. And he and his colleagues had no experience governing a superpower capable of causing disasters on a global scale. We are now paying the price.

********

Our system of government has a couple of crucial unstated assumptions in it: that those who pick the rulers will pick well..and those who are candidates for rulers will be reasonably competent, and reasonably sane.

Our founding fathers should have known better, but apparently they didn't. They did try to account for someone like Bush, in the Electoral College, and in the checks and balances of government.

They didn't count on a kind of mass insanity gripping two branches of government at once.

So, Jeff Smith has a point. The United States would, at this point, given the highly varied diversity of political views in this country now, be far better off under a pure parliamentary, proportional-representational government. Yes, there are problems with this kind of government too...but fewer problems than the ones we're saddled with now.

How long before another group of rich nut-cases decides to install kooks like Bush and Cheney in office again? Given how easy it was the last two times, I'm guessing it won't be long.

A parliamentary system would protect us, to some degree, from the wealthy right-wing idiots who want to install their own little hitlers...it wouldn't protect us entirely (witness the end of the Weimar Republic), but..hell, I worry about the fire next time. If we think Bush is the end of this kind of thing, the end of Rovism, I think we're sadly mistaken.

and so do many more of you letter writers.

"The United States does its ally Israel no favors in avoiding direct involvement to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict." -"There must be a renewed and sustained commitment by the United States to a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace on all fronts:" - "This commitment must include direct talks with, by, and between Israel, Lebanon, Palestinians (those who accept Israel’s right to

exist), and particularly Syria"...

No

The ISG report has no real exit strategy.

The ISG report's main proposal is cognate with Nixon and Kissinger's "vietnamization" of the Viet Nam war - more US troops, more Iraqi troops and no peace at all.

The ISG's real significance is in its proposals for privatizing the Iraqi oil industry - something Jimmy the Fixer Baker has been carping about since 1983 - and NOTHING else.

Bush's Department of Spin will be working out how to adopt the report but make it look like all his own work. Just needs a little time.

I'm beginning to think that President Bush is mentally ill.

Realism is the one thing this President has not shown a propensity to embrace. The losers, in my opinion have been not only the Iraqi citizenry whom have had to endure the hardships of life in such a barbaric atmosphere, but also the American people that have been forced to witness such obstinent leadership from Washington. Let's face it, a Secretary of State, who could sway the President to get aboard only after securing a commitment to look forward and not to pass judgment on the past errors of policy is not exactly a resounding vote of confidence.

I am half finished reading the finished product and the very characterization of "...less-bad options..." as phrased by one of the panel members speaks volumes about the abysmal blundering that has been a hallmark of this administrations pre and post-war Iraq war strategy and subsequent policy decision-making efforts. I take strong exception to President Bush's assertion that "Iraqis are plenty capable of running their own business." This tells all of us that have been paying attention to the lack of progress politically and diplomatically in not only Iraq but the entire Middle East, that the solution building will begin to occur only when and if there are drastic changes in the dynamics of internal Iraqi politics. Thus far, we have seen a steady stream of acquiescence from al-Maliki when it comes to addressing Moktada al- Sadr and his militia's activities. The one thing that has fallen off the radar from the moment he became part of the political process is the subject of the arrest warrant for al-Sadr. Perhaps it should be re-issued and upgraded to Terminate with Extreme Prejudice status. His presence has certainly seemed to inflame and exacerbate the situation from the time his public personae rose after the mosque bombing this past February. It is largely going to fall to the Iraqis to make strides to reduce the corruption that exists on a rampant level throughout the present government. Sectarian violence and ethnic-cleansing are no more than civil war. Anarchy, also is staring the country down-for without a viable form of competent government there will soon be no constituency remaining to lead.

The options available to the United States and the "coalition forces" such that they are are few and not at all promising. As everyone knew, even before its report was released the Iraqi Study Group offers no panacea; there is not one available. One need merely to look at the history of the people that have inhabited the region for the past one thousand years to reach that inevitable conclusion. It scares the daylights out of any sensible person - and it should.