Beyond civil war

In the debate over whether Iraq is a civil war, and what does the phrase mean and what are the practical applications of one answer or another and all that, the actual situation on the ground sometimes gets lost in the crosstalk. Society is simply disintegrating, with most "normal life" indicators at third-world levels. Lack of potable water, lack of electricity, rampant joblessness, etc. etc. etc.

This applies on the security front as well, and Yglesias finds an interesting note from the Iraq Study Group report indicating that the Iraqi police force apparently "has neither the training nor legal authority to conduct criminal investigations". He comments,

I assume they wouldn't have made a factual error about something like that, but how in the world did this happen? The Police Service lacks the legal authority to conduct criminal investigations? And nobody's reported this yet? That just seems crazy.

It does seem crazy, and while I wouldn't be entirely surprised if the wording is incorrect, neither would it shock me if some legal wrinkle exists that makes it accurate. There's nothing resembling a functioning judicial system, so even when criminals are apprehended, I can't imagine there's any fair (or even consistent) process for investigation and prosecution. In any case, another example of just how far gone this project is, and why simplistic ideas like "one more shot" or "one last push" are dangerously detached from reality. Read More......

Open thread

Got to meet Bill Press and Jane Harman at CNN today - Press had just finished going on Kurtz's show and Harman was getting ready to go on Wolf's. Both were very nice (and in DC, that is hardly a given when the big people meet us little people - Joe will share his Joe Biden story sometime soon). Also got to chat briefly with Wolf, who was also quite nice, and told me he reads the blog :-) Read More......

Iraqi President Calls U.S. Security Training a Failure

NYT:

“What have they done so far in training the army and the police?” the president said during a news conference here. “What they have done is move from failure to failure.”

Well, Bush has been saying that the program is a success. So which one is it? Not to mention, tell me again why Republicans are so willing to send our men and women to die for such ungrateful allies? Read More......

News bits

Augusto Pinochet is seriously dead.

Ba-rockstar Obama is in New Hampshire. Hmmm...

And, per the NYT, "Study Detects Recent Instance of Human Evolution." (I think we call that the 2006 elections.) Read More......

Rahm to oil industry: The honeymoon is over

This is what you get when no-more-nonsense, tough-as-nails Democrats take over the congress: real accountability (and hopefully lower gas prices). From the NYT:

House Democratic leaders vowed Friday to pursue a broad overhaul of tax breaks and other subsidies to oil companies in January, saying that their first target would be an investigation of how the government collects billions of dollars in royalties on oil and gas produced on federal property....

“This is a warning to oil and gas companies,” said Representative Rahm Emanuel, Democrat of Illinois and chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. “When you get a Democratic Congress, you are going to get a cop on the beat.”

Read More......

McCain is leading the "Stay the Course" wing of the GOP.

As Chris notes below, most Americans support the Iraq Study Group report. Americans want to change the course in Iraq -- and get the hell out. Not John McCain. John McCain has become the leading opponent of the report. And, the Senator from Arizona/2008 GOP presidential candidate has appointed himself Bush's wingman on Iraq. That position got McCain some press in the big papers today.

Washington Post:

Many Republican and Democratic lawmakers have embraced the panel's report, but the almost uniformly negative reaction from some of Bush's strongest conservative supporters means the president may have some political flexibility to depart from the group's major recommendations, according to some GOP operatives.

Notably fueling the skepticism has been Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who has raised pointed questions about the Baker-Hamilton panel's unwillingness to prescribe more troops, as McCain has urged, and its embrace of a regional conference with Syria and Iran.

The New York Times:

The divisions could make it more difficult for Republicans to coalesce on national security policy and avoid a bitter intraparty fight going into the 2008 campaign.

Senator John McCain of Arizona, a leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, rejected the major recommendations of the group because they did not present a formula for victory. Mr. McCain, hoping to claim the Republican mantle on national security issues, has staked out a muscular position on Iraq, calling for an immediate increase in American forces to try to bring order to Baghdad and crush the insurgency.

If McCain wants to make the 2008 campaign a referendum on Bush and Iraq, so be it. Read More......

I'm going on CNN this morning to talk about the Virgin Mary (Cheney)

Probably around 10:40AM Eastern or so, on Howie Kurtz's show. Read More......

Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

The talk shows are all about Iraq. Baker and Hamilton are taking their show on the road. They're not going to let those punks over at the White House dis' their report:

ABC's "This Week" - British Prime Minister Tony Blair; Sens. Joe Biden, D-Del., and Gordon Smith, R-Ore.; actor Ed Asner.

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CBS' "Face the Nation" - Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., co-chairmen of the Iraq Study Group; Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Trent Lott, R-Miss.

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NBC's "Meet the Press" - Baker and Hamilton.

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CNN's "Late Edition" - Baker and Hamilton; Reps. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Jane Harman, D-Calif.; Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution of Iraq; Israeli Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres.

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"Fox News Sunday" - Baker and Hamilton; Sens. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Sam Brownback, R-Kan.; composer Marvin Hamlisch.

Iraq is a colossal failure. Everyone seems to know that now. Everyone, that is, except the staff at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington DC.

I think we're going to see this week that the collective effort to get the attention of the President failed. We're in big trouble. Read More......

American public supports ISG - wants change

America wants change, but Bush doesn't understand that word or what that means.

Nearly two out of three Americans (65 percent) concur with the Iraq Study Group that the U.S. should threaten to reduce economic and military aid to the Baghdad government unless it meets benchmarks for security and development. Fifty-seven percent believe Washington should reach out to its adversaries Iran and Syria in an effort to stabilize Iraq. And 61 percent believe Washington should launch a new and sustained effort to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

That's bad news for President George W. Bush since it's unclear whether the new consensus has been adopted by the White House. Though the president called the Baker-Hamilton report "constructive," in a press conference on Thursday with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bush's closest ally, the president signaled resistance to at least two of the key proposals: drawing down U.S. combat troops in Iraq by early 2008, and talking to Iran and Syria. "One way to assure failure is just to quit, is not to adjust and say it's just not worth it," said Bush, adding, "I believe we'll prevail."

Remember when some thought that his stubbornness and fear of change was somehow leadership? Now he just looks pig headed and afraid. Read More......