[oceanview]

predicatable spin - cast the 6/30 date as "cut and run". what don't they understand about the term "interim government".

[maestro]

America ditching democracy in Islamic Culture?

LOL

[Turbodog]

If this is what I think it is, it pisses me off big time. White wash the UN oil-for-food scandal, discredit Chalabi, no democracy in Iraq, and pull out soon after elections, apparently, with our tails between our legs, and the entire Jihadist world under the impression that they won a great victory over America. Never mind the fact that Iran is on the verge of completing their Islamic bomb and their missiles will soon be intercontinental.

[prairiebreeze]

Why the about-face in the Bush administration? Senior U.S. State Department officials will tell you straight: The administration was wrong in its Iraqi strategy. The plan should have been to just get rid of Saddam and leave the rest to the U.N. As these officials see it, the Iraqis, along with the rest of the Arabs, are basically criminals and incapable of democracy.

My trust of the State Dept. runs about an inch above the floor most of the time. And the UN cut and run the minute their offices were bombed (which they facilitated by refusing American protection, wishing to be seen separate from the Big Bad United States).

So who can say they wouldn't have done precisely the same thing even with their own bluehelmets in country?

The interim government is being announced as I type. I prefer to wait and see just how things unfold.

Prairie (ping)

[Allegra]

"The decision to allow Brahimi to run Iraq until the end of the year means the administration has embarked on a cut-and-run policy," a senior congressional aide involved in U.S. policy on Iraq said. "The policy is based on pleasing the same Arab despots that the administration has sought to oppose to perhaps win a few months of quiet in Iraq — just enough time for the U.S. to get out."

Oh, for crying out freakin' loud. What a bunch of hand-wringing, "the-sky-is-falling" B.S.

Oh...that's right...it is an election year in the U.S.