The changing nature of the war in Iraq

Make sure to read Seymour Hersh's latest at The New Yorker -- on Bush, Murtha, and where the Iraq War is headed. As usual, he cuts through all the White House spin and reveals what's really going on. I'd pick out a few key passages, but it's all good.

Okay, here's one: "Current and former military and intelligence officials have told me that the President remains convinced that it is his personal mission to bring democracy to Iraq, and that he is impervious to political pressure, even from fellow Republicans. They also say that he disparages any information that conflicts with his view of how the war is proceeding."

There will be a quantitative withdrawal of U.S. forces, but the war will continue: "Iraqi infantry with American support and greater use of airpower," as one expert puts it.

Will it work? I have confidence in the U.S. military, but not in the civilian leadership, not in the occupant of the Oval Office, not when it's all about the next photo-op and political considerations leading up to 2006 and beyond: "The Administration’s immediate political goal after the December elections is to show that the day-to-day conduct of the war can be turned over to the newly trained and equipped Iraqi military. It has already planned heavily scripted change-of-command ceremonies, complete with the lowering of American flags at bases and the raising of Iraqi ones."

Surely the Iraqi people deserve better.