A Great Success!!!!

From the Boston Globe: Ugly truths about Iraq.

IT SHOULD not be surprising that a classified National Intelligence Estimate completed late last month projects three scenarios for Iraq over the next year and a half that range from dicey to disastrous -- from fragile stability to civil war among Sunni Arabs, Shi'ites, and Kurds.

What is surprising is that President Bush and Vice President Cheney nevertheless go on campaigning on the false pretense that their Iraq policy has been a great success.

It is no defense for Bush and Cheney to say that Iraqis and the world are better off with Saddam Hussein behind bars and his clique of mass murderers removed from power. Nor is it enough to claim that there are some positive indicators of an incipient Iraqi civil society coalescing in the country.

The suicide bombs, the roadside bombs, the ambushes, kidnappings, and assassinations -- all these assaults on Iraqis and foreigners show a nation in violent disorder. This continuing mayhem, which casts doubt on the possibility of holding elections for an Iraqi National Assembly in January 2005, also casts light on the unmistakable failures of the Bush administration's efforts at peacemaking and nation-building in postwar Iraq.

But the administration still gives a rosy picture of the situation, is still referring to their hand picked prime minister as a step toward Democracy and still talking about elections as the chaos in Iraq mounts.

Even the Republicans on the bobble head shows this morning were slamming the administration. On Fox News, of all places, John McCain was asked point blank if the president was being honest and after a pause had to admit that he was not.
Of course the Republicans are calling for swift military action to root out the insurgents. It's too late for that. The Democrats are accusing the administration of not wanting to take action before the election. Probably true, the massive casualties that would result would not help Mr. Bush's re-election campaign.
The Iraq war can certainly be compared to Vietnam in one respect, a lot of Americans are dyeing for nothing.