The war, which started out as a demonstration of US strength as the world's only superpower, has turned into a demonstration of weakness. Its 135,000-strong army does not control much of Iraq

because it also describes why we are losing to Iran. Our overreliance on air power and other expensive toys as well as our commitment to having ground forces stationed in places where they have no discernible function reveals to the world that we have no power beyond the ability to throw tantrums. Our enemies have been emboldened and the very people who've accomplished this are the ones who assert that acting intelligently would embolden our enemies.

Its bad enough that we've done something really stupid. But to insist that having done so, our only option is to continue digging defies reason.

The New York Times has no idea how Bush came to his decision to commute Libby's sentence.

Thanks to the miracle of chanelling I was able to be privy to the inner working of the Bush/Cheney mind with respect to the Scooter commutation:

Dick?

Yes, Scooter?

I want you and George to be clear on this . . . my old lady is bitching and moaning up a storm about me being indisposed for the next 30 months. In fact, her exact words were: "If you think me and the kids will be waiting for your ass to get out yoou're fucking crazy. I told you not to trust those assholes."

Uh-huh.

So, I just want you both to know, if I do one fucking day in the joint . . . you two had better be thinking about what you're going to do in your suddenly enforced retirement. Are we clear?

Crystal clear, Scooter, thanks for dropping by . . .

How many times have the “all of the Great and Glorious Victories we are Winning over Al Qaeda” turned out to be ephemeral? It happens over and over again. What was yesterday’s “glorious victory” has become today’s total disaster. Here’s one example.

Back in October of 2005, the city of Baquba, Iraq was the latest “triumph” being trumpeted as proof of our impending glorious victory. The Christian Science Monitor in an article titled, “An Iraqi city becomes turnaround story” told the story, but did put in a small caveat at the end of the article, “How long the peace will hold in Baquba is unclear, as the city has been pacified before.”

So let’s look at this triumphant turnaround town today. Here’s Juan Cole’s update:

So the Sunni Arabs in Baquba are done out. They have a Shiite government in their province that they don't want, and they have a Shiite/Kurdish government in Baghdad that sends Shiite troops of the Iraqi Army against them. The Sunni Arab neighborhoods of Baquba have thrown up local militias, and they have made alliances with Baathi and Salafi Jihadi cells.

The US military spent last week trying to 'clear' these Sunni Arab neighborhoods of 'al-Qaeda.' But I doubt they have Bin Laden's telephone number. They are just local guys or foreign volunteers who don't like seeing Sunni Arabs subjected to Shiite ayatollahs and secessionist Kurds.

As US troops fought on Sunday, they discovered that the guerrilla leaders had set mines and then made themselves scarce.

So after 6 days of hard fighting, in which US troops were killed and wounded, what do we have?

A sullen, defiant Sunni Arab urban population.

A guerrilla leadership that slipped away.

An Iraqi army unable actually to hold the 'cleared' neighborhoods, which are likely to throw up more guerrilla leaders and campaigns.

A continued dominance of Sunni Arabs in Diyala by a Shiite government completely unacceptable to them.

A US commitment to upholding the Shiite ("Iraqi") government.

So I am angry because this looks to me like we sent our guys to fight and die for a piece of political quicksand in which the entire endeavor is likely to sink.

It is not right.

And this city, remember, was touted as a sure sign of our impending victory. And they condemn us for not believing their very latest sign of success? Please.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1031/p06s01-woiq.html

http://www.juancole.com/2007/06/baquba-cant-be-held-by-iraq-troops.html

Glenn... Earlier this year, in February, Cockburn documented that the invasion and occupation of Iraq has done more than any other single event to radicalize the Muslim world -- including in Iraq -- and has caused a significant increase in terrorist attacks on the West.

Avedon (for Atrios)

Thought for the day

Shouldn't it concern us that Republicans are constantly talking about how people will all wise up when the next terrorist attack at home comes?

I mean, they really seem to be looking forward to it, and they take great delight in the thought that, by God, people will see things differently when it happens.

They relish the thought. They hunger for that terrorist attack they need to save their Party.

I, Not Atrios, think Democrats would be wise to talk on TV about how the last thing we need is to put people in power who have such a stake in having terrorists attack Americans.

-Avedon

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2007_07_08_archive.html#412766376040529859

It is probable we will be targeted again. Getting the American public to realize this will be a result of what Jonathon Schwarz calls "George Bush's Ass-Based Foreign Policy" and not in spite of it, is important. It is not preventing attacks it is fueling them.

George Bush's Ass-Based Foreign Policy

http://www.tinyrevolution.com/mt/archives/001611.html

A "Gotcha" found over at Jonathon's:

A Visionary

What now-prominent political pundit wrote this in 1976?

An Arab country with the second largest proven oil reserves, a fierce revolutionary ideology, a large and recently-blooded army, and a leadership composed almost entirely of men in their thirties is obviously a force to be reckoned with. Iraq, which has this dynamic combination and much else besides, has not until recently been very much regarded as a power. But...its political voice is being heard more and more....And it has a leader — Saddam Hussain — who has sprung from being an underground revolutionary gunman to perhaps the first visionary Arab statesman since Nasser.

Answer Here:

http://www.tinyrevolution.com/mt/archives/001610.html