Progress, Schmogress

Update: Iraq's national assembly allowed the team drawing up a draft constitution an extra week to complete their work. Otherwise, the government would have dissolved, requiring new elections in December, thereby starting this process all over again. What did the Bush mafia/administration have to say? "We are witnessing democracy at work in Iraq," said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Wow, whatever this administration is smoking, they need to share it.

Eh, so Iraq isn't the beacon of freedom and democracy. Sewage fills the streets in Baghdad. Unemployment is at 50-65%. Many of Baghdad's 6 million people go without electricity for days in 120-degree heat. Parents fearful of kidnapping are keeping children indoors.. Hey, we tried. Yeah, we'll just be leaving now. Good luck with those freedom hating suicide bombers. Bush's corporate buddies got their contract money.

In today's Washington Post, U.S. officials are saying that 'the Bush administration is significantly lowering expectations of what can be achieved in Iraq, recognizing that the United States will have to settle for far less progress than originally envisioned during the transition due to end in four months, according to U.S. officials in Washington and Baghdad. The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society where the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges" U.S. officials say. "What we expected to achieve was never realistic given the timetable or what unfolded on the ground," said a senior official involved in policy since the 2003 invasion. "We are in a process of absorbing the factors of the situation we're in and shedding the unreality that dominated at the beginning."




What does the AWOL president have to say (from his golf cart cell phone)? "Iraqis are taking control of their country, building a free nation that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself. And we're helping Iraqis succeed," President Bush said his radio address on Saturday. Yes, he's completely out of touch and as we have all assumed, not the real President.

Aside from the insurgent attacks, there is much religious unrest. "Barbers post signs saying they do not shave men, after months of barbers being killed by religious extremists". The Bush administration had stated that they had planned to establish a "secular and modern Iraq that honors human rights" (insert laugh here) and one that would "unite disparate ethnic and religious communities."



U.S. officials and Iraq analysts say that the US "set out to establish a democracy, but we're slowly realizing we will have some form of Islamic republic." The WP goes on to report that "U.S. officials now acknowledge that they misread the strength of sentiment among Kurds and Shiites to create a special status. The Shiites' request this month for autonomy to be guaranteed in the constitution stunned the Bush administration, even after more than two years of intense intervention in Iraq's political process, they said. Killings of members of the Iraqi security force have tripled since January. Last week was the fourth-worst week of the whole war for U.S. military deaths in combat, and August already is the worst month for deaths of members of the National Guard and Reserve. Attacks on U.S. convoys by insurgents using roadside bombs have doubled over the past year.

According to Wayne White, the former head of the State Department's Iraq intelligence team: "The administration says Saddam ran down the country. But most damage was from looting [after the invasion], which took down state industries, large private manufacturing, the national electric system." We didn't even allow the Iraqi's to rebuild their own country after we demolished it. Nope, we gave billions in no bid contracts to American corporations, or rather the highest donors to the Republican Party. God Bless America!