More evidence of "steady progress" in Iraq

[AuntieEmma[$]]

This is from a review of a book, written by a former WP Baghdad Bureau chief, about the year after Saddam was overthrown.

... the C.P.A.'s recruitment policy would have shamed Tammany Hall. Loyalty to George W. Bush and the Republican Party was apparently the prime criterion for getting work at the C.P.A. To determine their suitability for positions in Iraq, some prospective employees were asked their views on Roe v. Wade. Others were asked whom they voted for in 2000...

Before the war began, Frederick M. Burkle Jr. was assigned to oversee Iraq's health care system. He had a résumé to die for: a physician with a master's degree in public health, and postgraduate degrees from Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth and Berkeley. He also had two bronze stars for military service in the Navy, as well as field experience with the Kurds in northern Iraq after the 1991 gulf war. A week after the liberation, he was told he was being replaced because, Chandrasekaran writes, ''a senior official at USAID told him that the White House wanted a 'loyalist' in the job.''

That loyalist was James K. Haveman Jr., who had been recommended by the former Michigan governor John Engler. Haveman's résumé included running a Christian adoption agency that counseled young women against abortions. He spent much of his time in Iraq preparing to privatize the state-owned drug supply firm -- perhaps not the most important priority since almost every hospital in the country had been thoroughly looted in the days after Hussein was overthrown.

On page after page, Chandrasekaran details other projects of the C.P.A.'s bright young Republican ideologues -- like modernizing the Baghdad stock exchange, or quickly privatizing every service that had previously been provided by the state. Some of these ideas would have been laudable if they were being planned for a country with functioning power and water supplies, and that wasn't tottering on the brink of anarchy...

Boys in the Bubble - New York Times

[erik_kosberg]

"Cheney helped block Phase II report on Iraq"

Surprise, surprise.

[erik_kosberg]

"More U.S. troops were killed in combat in Iraq over the past four months — at least 334 through Jan. 31 — than in any comparable stretch since the war began, according to an Associated Press analysis of casualty records."

How does Bush sleep at night? Apparently, quite well.

Dubya said

I must tell you, I’m sleeping a lot better than people would assume.

BTW, "Here's a story that has gotten almost no attention whatsoever: The Iraqi government appears to have failed to achieve the very first concrete benchmark that White House officials announced as part of the new combined US-Iraqi security push in Baghdad."

[erik_kosberg]

Another benchmark, another failure.

[erik_kosberg]

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Bush reaches new depths of idiocy.

[drmomentum[$]]

Yeah, that one in particular set my wife off for about 6 hours. Dubya as Washington.

[pippadaisy[$]]

O.M.G.

This is why I don't read Carpetbagger daily. My head would explode.

[erik_kosberg]

Why We're Staying in Iraq - Newsweek Michael Hirsh - MSNBC.com

The British are leaving, the Iraqis are failing and the Americans are staying—and we’re going to be there a lot longer than anyone in Washington is acknowledging right now. As Democrats and Republicans back home try to outdo each other with quick-fix plans for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and funds, what few people seem to have noticed is that Gen. David Petraeus’s new “surge” plan is committing U.S. troops, day by day, to a much deeper and longer-term role in policing Iraq than since the earliest days of the U.S. occupation. How long must we stay under the Petraeus plan? Perhaps 10 years. At least five. In any case, long after George W. Bush has returned to Crawford, Texas, for good.

Ducky.

[erik_kosberg]

"They got everything wrong, every step of the way"

The mind boggles.

[Stokes Pennwalt]

Will his report be made available online? It sounds like it will be interesting to compare it with the piece that Larry Diamond wrote for Foreign Affairs a couple years ago, although his will continue beyond the handover of sovereignty.

Foreign Affairs - What Went Wrong in Iraq - Larry Diamond

[erik_kosberg]

It's available here in PDF format.

[Stokes Pennwalt]

As expected the SIGIR cannot be accused of concision. Thanks for the link. I'll have to archive that one.

[erik_kosberg]

"I did not say we talked to terrorists, we've talked to groups who have not participated in the political process..." ... who we were calling, until the day before yesterday, terrorists.

Seems a little late in the game to be trying to turn 98% of the Sunni insurgents (Iraqis) against 2% of the Sunni insurgents (non-Iraqis) and think that that will somehow pull our butt out of the fire.

[erik_kosberg]

"Bush Highlights Tal Afar as Example of Progress in Iraq"

And the progress reports just keep rolling in:
"Carnage engulfs Tal Afar"

[erik_kosberg]

Dubya has more good news out of Iraq!

"In a speech to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association yesterday, the president added a new point to his standard remarks about the war in Iraq."

[erik_kosberg]

McCain Strolls Through Baghdad Market, Accompanied By 100 Soldiers, 3 Blackhawks, 2 Apache Gunships

In a press conference after his Baghdad tour, McCain told a reporter that his visit to the market today was proof that you could indeed “walk freely” in some areas of Baghdad.

[erik_kosberg]

"For Vice President Cheney's lies and distortions to be exposed is common. But it's a rare satisfaction for them to be thrown back in his face on the same day."

[erik_kosberg]

Active-duty Army units sent to Iraq will now be stuck there for 15 months at a time instead of 12. But everything's under control.

[erik_kosberg]

‘Mature’ people see ‘progress’ in Iraq

[erik_kosberg]

"The United Nations criticised Iraq's government on Wednesday for not disclosing politically sensitive civilian casualty figures..."

Wild guess? Civilian casualties are way down, Bush's escalation is succeeding beyond his wildest dreams, and the Iraqi government is covering up the good news. Damn that liberal media for not digging in to this!

[erik_kosberg]

Yay! Tony Snow is back on the job.

Victory!

[drmomentum[$]]

So, as long as everybody keeps fighting, everybody keeps winning.