Straight talkers about Iraq

So much news about Iraq today; I have not read enough about the Chalabi raid to have an informed opinion about it; I never have trusted Chalabi and his group. Chalabi was a primary promoter of the 'WMD imminent threat' meme. Chalabi is also partly responsible for the inadequate preparation for post-occupation Iraq--the claim that the Iraqi people would welcome the US as liberators has turned out to be exaggerated.

A couple of choice quotes found in today's Guardian:

First, General Joseph Hoar, former commander-in-chief of US central command, speaking to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee:

I believe we are absolutely on the brink of failure. We are looking into the abyss.

[More quotes from General Hoar here]

Second, Larry Diamond, analyst at the Hoover Institution:

I think it's clear that the United States now faces a perilous situation in Iraq.

We have failed to come anywhere near meeting the post-war expectations of Iraqis for security and post-war reconstruction.

There is only one word for a situation in which you cannot win and you cannot withdraw - quagmire.

Note that Diamond is cautiously optimistic about the prospects for democracy everywhere. Read his article "Universal Democracy?"


Pelosi telling it like it is. 

Here's what Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic Leader, has to say, in the San Francisco Chronicle:

"Bush is an incompetent leader. In fact, he's not a leader,'' Pelosi said. "He's a person who has no judgment, no experience and no knowledge of the subjects that he has to decide upon.''

Pelosi has long been an outspoken critic of Bush and the war in Iraq. Yet the tone and extent of her comments during an interview with The Chronicle go well beyond criticisms leveled by her and other Democratic leaders in the past.

Speaking from her Capitol office for 45 minutes, Pelosi portrayed the president as dangerously in over his head and stubbornly unwilling to consider information that clashes with his own preconceptions.

"He has on his shoulders the deaths of many more troops, because he would not heed the advice of his own State Department of what to expect after May 1 when he ... declared that major combat is over,'' Pelosi charged. "The shallowness that he has brought to the office has not changed since he got there.''

Amen.
Update: grammar and spelling corrected in post, 9:11 pm CDT

Father, let me dedicate All this year to you
In whatever earthly state You will have me be
Not from sorrow, pain, or care Freedom dare I claim;
This alone shall be my prayer: Glorify Your name.
--from New Year's Hymn by Lawrence Tuttiett, 1864 (alt.)