INCOMPETENTS ABROAD

Straight from the "Oh Man, This Hadley Guy Is Sooooooo Fired" Files, the NY Times is reporting that after an October 30 visit to Bagdad, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley wrote the following in a November 8 report about Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki:

“His intentions seem good when he talks with Americans, and sensitive reporting suggests he is trying to stand up to the Shia hierarchy and force positive change. But the reality on the streets of Baghdad suggests Maliki is either ignorant of what is going on, misrepresenting his intentions, or that his capabilities are not yet sufficient to turn his good intentions into action . . . . If Mr. Maliki fails to carry out a series of specified steps, it may ultimately be necessary to press him to reconfigure his parliamentary bloc, a step the United States could support by providing “monetary support to moderate groups,” and by sending thousands of additional American troops to Baghdad to make up for what the document suggests is a current shortage of Iraqi forces.

Whoa. Change this guy's name to Diem and the Vietnam parallels get so obvious they speak for themselves. Now, if we can return from the exotic, desert heat of Iraqi politics to the more familiar climate of the Administration Bullshit Storm ("ABS"), let's see what the Big Boy and his spinners have to say. Well, AP reports that Bush himself said the following at a summit in that hotbed of NATO power, the Latvian capital of Riga:

"[Maliki & I] will discuss the situation on the ground in his country, our ongoing efforts to transfer more responsibility to the Iraqi security forces, and the responsibility of other nations in the region to support the security and stability of Iraq."

Americans are dying every day, the nation we've invaded is engulfed in civil war, and in a Saigon '75-like scene of chaos and anarchy, roaming bands of "militiamen" murder Iraqi civilians by the score. And Bush, before the eyes of the world, looks for solutions and shared responsibility from a man his own advisor says is "either ignorant of what is going on, misrepresenting his intentions, or that his capabilities are not yet sufficient to turn his good intentions into action."

This man is unfit to be President of our nation. Unfit.

Whew. If I can lighten things up a bit (so I don't burst a cerebral blood vessel as I type in rage), a quick weather report from the ABS. From Bush, himself:

"We'll continue to be flexible, and we'll make the changes necessary to succeed. But there's one thing I'm not going to do: I'm not going to pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete."

He's lying. Again. There's something else he's "not going to do": devise a stategy to win, exit, stop the spending, or stop the dying. Then this, from a "senior administration" official, speaking on condition of anonymity:

"You have a constant reiteration of the importance of strengthening the Maliki government, the need to work with him, to augment his capabilities . . . [Bush & Maliki] have a personal relationship [allowing them to] talk candidly about the challenges."

I believe we've heard this about Bush and every foreign leader, potentate, dictator, or apparatchik he's met. Never anything about vision, strategies, plans, or strength. Nah. They like to hang, they're buds. Remember folks, this is the President you'd like to sit down and have a beer with. Another "anonymous" official (what's that about stormy seas, rats, and sinking ships again?) said about the Hadley Report and its suggestions, that it's:

"[not] a slap in the face, but it's how do we grow his capability."

I have no idea what that means. Any help? And finally (to drive this "Storm" trope so far into the ground it'll be deeper than the enriched uranium buried beneath the Iraqi soil), the Bullshit Miser himself, Tony Snow said:

"The president has confidence in Prime Minister Maliki, and also the administration is working with the prime minister to improve his capabilities. [Maliki] has been very aggressive in recent weeks in taking on some of the key challenges."

Key challenge? Like listening to Bush without laughing? Good for him. Let him read about all this from the shoes of an American (or one of the citizens from his soon-to be-doomed nation) and see if he can avoid crying, screaming, or both.

In the meantime, at least he can feel swelling pride that powerful men from the world's most powerful nation are committed to augmenting, improving, and most importantly, growing his less-than-impressive "capability." I'm sure Mrs. Maliki is pleased.