Double Secret Probation

The Guardian UK reports on the Iraqi election and pre-election violence:

There is also a growing number of incidents south of Baghdad, even in previously quiet areas. Gunmen opened fire on a polling station in Musayib, 50 miles south of the capital. At least one guard and one insurgent were killed.

In the southern port city of Basra, mortars were fired at three schools that have been designated as voting centres. No one was injured but the schools were badly damaged. An additional 650 British troops from the Royal Highland Fusiliers arrived in the city on Sunday to boost security.

In the southern town of Numaniya, near Kut, gunmen shot dead the son of Habib Salman al-Katib, a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the leading Shia clerical authority in Iraq. Several of his aides have been assassinated in recent days.

There have been other recent killings near Kut, once a peaceful Shia town, with several accounts of gunmen shooting drivers dead at checkpoints. At least 17 people died around the town in attacks on Sunday, including Iraqi policemen, national guardsmen, local government officials and Iraqis working for foreign companies involved in reconstruction projects.

What this means is that 'fourteen out of eighteen provinces free from violence" just isn't true. The "election" upcoming in Iraq, if you ask me, might well be memorable mainly in the sense that it will make Florida's during the Jeb Bush era seem clean in comparison...although here's hoping Jeb doesn't try to get any ideas...

Polling locations a secret until election day? How the hell will anyone know where to vote? Will they wait for someone to say, "psst...follow me..." And, given the "security situation," which is the polite way of saying "it's damn easy to get shot to pieces just going out of your house FOR ANY REASON," why would you trust ANYONE telling you the location of the "secret" polling place? Jeez, what a nightmare.

For those wishing to cast absentee ballots, well, at least they know where the polls are located--although some might find it easier to vote than others. Iraqis living in Switzerland, for example (about 9,000--6,000 who are eligible to vote), will have to travel twice to either France or Germany. Those in the US won't have to leave the country, but will have to get to one of exactly five locations--Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, Nashville, or metro DC.

But at least the odds of getting shot or blown up are relatively minimal.

As for Bush himself, well, in interview after interview, he keeps demonstrating that he is so without a clue--about ANYTHING--that Dick Cheney ought to slap him silly, for the good of us all. Here's what he told CNN's senior White House Correspondent:

On improving intelligence
"Human intelligence, the ability to get inside somebody's mind, the ability to read somebody's mail, the ability to listen to somebody's phone call --that somebody being the enemy."

On perceptions of the United States in the Middle East
"The propagandists have done a better job of depicting America as a hateful place, a place wanting to impose our form of thought and our religion on people," he said.

"We're behind when it comes to selling our own story and telling the people the truth about America."

[there were]"some very difficult decisions that made public diplomacy hard in the Muslim world -- one was obviously attacking Iraq."

My gawd. I used to think that Bush's response to questions were much like contestant in a beauty pageant. I'll retract that--contestants in a beauty pageant tend to show a little more reflection and thought.

According to the article, Bush did another almost-apology about his use of the phrases "bring 'em on" and "dead or alive." Well, isn't that nice. He also showed his unlimited capacity for being both mule-headed and imperious--which he considers steadfast and plainspoken.

Oh--one other thing: Bush begins term two with an approval rating roughly the same as Richard Nixon's. Interesting.