DOG DAY DOLDRUMS: ALL IS HELL

It’s 117 in the shade in Baghdad, and even hotter for Maliki’s pseudo government, now minus the largest Suni block, who resigned in disgust. Others are disgusted too. Disgusted with the failure to fund a $27 billion electric grid (which often fails to power water purification plants), digusted with the missing 190,000 arms issued in 2004 to Iraqi Security forces, disgusted with the Turkish attacks on the Kurds (and visa versa), the US support of Suni fighters...and Saudi pledges to do the same.

Generals on the ground...Odierno and Patreaus among them, ire Maliki, who is himself worthy of the ire of many factions for his inability to do a singel damned thing. The Parliament has begun it’s one month recess...home to wives and family..and back home in the US of A, Congress prepares for their own recess...while slamming Maliki for same.

Bush pushes for an arms deal with Saudis and Israelis...always a sharp move, and sends Condi and Gates off to "make nice" with the Mid East gang, hoping against hope to bring "peace"...what a word!

Meanwhile, back in the states, a bridge, judged "OK" by the city of Minneapolis..collapses. It’s 40 years old..what can you expect? Hadrian would have laughed hia fool head off. Ask the Irish and the Scotts (they’re still crossing bridges built by the Romans over 1000 years ago!). But we can’t compare because the Romans had superior techniques!

George Bush has shown a tad of insensitivity to the Minneapolis tragedy; given the opportunity to show deep compassion and sympathy, he hastened...in a speech today..to slam Democrats for some lack of funding on some project totally unrelated to the bridge collapse. Of course, nothing more was anticipated from the clown. Politics is Politics and Bush never misses a chance to make a fool of himself. He can risk it, because there’s still a hard corps 30% of Americans who’d stand behind him if he ordered the Pope tortured and shot by a firing squad. Republican politics is like that, and Karl Rove, who is sitting in the cat bird’s seat right now, free from any committee hearing questions due to "Executive Privilege", is laughing up his sleeve.

So now we wade through the entire month of August...hot, sweaty, and with the sure and certain knowledge that come September Patreaus will say we’ve got to hang in there for at least another couple of years.

To give Iraq a fair chance.