"Grave and Deteriorating"

The Iraq study group finds that the situation in Iraq is "grave and deteriorating." This is not good news, and not a surprise, but still a welcome bit of reality after years of lies and nonsense. The report is a surprising quick read and filled with interesting facts. Crucially, it notes that Bush's plan, if it could be called that, was flawed and not working.

The recommendations of the ISG owe more to hope than certainty, and the obstacles to anything that might be called success look horrendous, but at least there is now some recognition of reality.

In another front on the war on fantasy, Steven Colbert had a nice explanation of how the Senate so rapidly confirmed Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense. They had only one question, he said: are you, or have you ever been, Donald Rumsfeld? The answer, plus a photo ID, was sufficient.

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