Bad News, Worse News

Actually, the bad news isn't terrible; however, it doesn't quite qualify as GOOD news--the company of soldiers who refused to go on a suicide run to deliver tainted fuel in Iraq won't be court-martialed, either as individuals or as a group. However, they will face administration discipline, including loss of rank, forfeiture of pay and/or benefits, and so on.

As the father of one of the soldiers noted: "I'm glad it's over with. I don't care if he comes back as a private or a general. I just want him to come back."

That might be more difficult--this New York Times article reveals that two intelligence officers sent reports back to Washington indicating that the situation in Iraq is far more dire than the public has been led to believe, and that prospects for improvement are limited.

Then there's the assessment from outer space, aka, Bush's brain, where he likened the situation in Iraq to pre-Civil War America:

At the White House on Monday, President Bush himself offered no hint of pessimism as he met with Iraq's president, Sheik Ghazi al-Yawar. Despite the security challenges, Mr. Bush said, the United States continues to favor the voting scheduled for Iraq on Jan. 30 to "send the clear message to the few people in Iraq that are trying to stop the march toward democracy that they cannot stop elections."

"The American people must understand that democracy just doesn't happen overnight," he said. "It is a process. It is an evolution. After all, look at our own history. We had great principles enunciated in our Declarations of Independence and our Constitution, yet, we had slavery for a hundred years. It takes a while for democracy to take hold. And this is a major first step in a society which enables people to express their beliefs and their opinions."

Well, I'll leave it to the historians to correct Mr. Bush's math. As for his policies, it's evident that he's going even further up a river in Egypt.