A man standing on a street
fingers in his ears
eyes tightly closed
his mouth shut.

His clothes are covered
with the blood of comrades
the enemy
and innocent civilians.

He opens his mouth:

No civil war —
we are safer.
Get a hose
and wash me down.

The NY Times reports: Military Officials Add to U.S. Criticism of Iraq’s Government

The first step in the withdrawal has begun —“ the laying of blame.

Sure, we invaded, set up a puppet government no one respects, stoked the fire a little with our own incompetence and sin and now its all their fault.

The saddest line of all from a senior American military official:

—I can tell you in every single ministry how they are using that ministry to fill the coffers of the political parties,— the official said. —They are doing that because that is exactly what Saddam Hussein did.—

We got rid of Saddam and got a thousand Saddams. Faustian!