Iraq: everything going well, or a chaos pit?

Bush wants everone to believe that everything is going well in Iraq. Democracy is established, he says. It seems no one outside his administration can substantiate his claims.

A sobering assessment, found here, illustrates the no-win scenario Bush has put us into. It's the same scenario, by the way, that every middle east expert--not to mention Bill Clinton and the first Bush--said would happen if the U.S. tried regime-change in Iraq. So this isn't exactly a surprise to anyone.

Of particular value in the article are all the quotes of informed officials. Here's my favorite: "Even inside the Green Zone you are not safe, because of indirect fire. And if you were to venture outside at night, they'd probably find your headless body the next morning" (Col. Patrick Lang, former Middle East chief for the Defense Intelligence Agency).

They all add up to a string of cures that kill the patient. For example, the only way for the Iraqi gov't to be legitimate is to reject the U.S. occupation, but without the U.S. forces it would be easily overthrown.

The disparity between reality and Bush's spin is amazingly similar to the same disparity between reality and Lyndon Johnson's spin about Vietnam. Will we need John Kerry to speak again, asking who's to be the last soldier to die for a lost cause?