Griper Blade: Giving Life, Limb, and Mind

Some people deserve a little break. Given how little political headway the government of Iraq (if you can call it that) has made, you might think that they actually haven't done anything. But the truth is that the Parliament reflects the rest of the country -- i.e., they've spent most of their time fighting amongst themselves. They think they deserve a little break.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial page editor Cynthia Tucker puts it this way:

You couldn't reasonably expect a group of high-ranking politicians to continue to work on tough issues while the thermostat registers 130 degrees, could you? So what if they work in the Green Zone where the electricity is reliable and the air-conditioning is quite comfy? They needed a break from all that feud-- ... ah, deliberating.

So the Iraqi parliament is taking August off.

So why are 160,000 U.S. troops risking their lives? Why are our soldiers and Marines pounding the wretchedly hot and dangerous streets wearing 80 pounds of gear?

Good question. There's a big propaganda push going on about how much progress there is in Iraq. An op-ed by two warheads -- Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack -- has been getting a lot of play. These two idiots are put across as 'war critics,' despite the fact that both were instrumental in pushing prewar BS like 'proof' of WMD as ties to terrorism at the New York Times. Like all 'yay for the war' pieces, it's identical to what comes out of the southbound end of a northbound horse. Having been so consistently wrong, it's surprising that they can get anything printed at all, let alone without a disclaimer.

But even if Pollack and O'Hanlon's propaganda piece was 100% accurate, what good is military progress without political progress? If Iraq has no real government, wouldn't a 'victory' in Iraq just be a break from the anarchy?...

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