Mookie? How appropriately politically incorrect. We should have disposed of this guy from day one. By all accounts he's probably been studing in Qom, Iran and is on his way to becoming a grand ayatollah.

In fact, maybe Iran might just speed that up, considering Muqtada, err I mean Mookie, comes from a well respected and powerful clerical heritage, which I'm sure should he return to Iraq, he would be more than willing to show his appreciation toward Iran for the favor.

At that point in time, good luck on the serving the arrest warrant on this twelver at that point.

A flippant Vietnam comparison is the best you can do in response to Newsweek?

That's pretty pathetic.

It might be a less charged analysis to layout the potential range of seats won/lost by political party and the ramifications for forming a government under each of those scenarios.

Can one make the case that fraud is a greater destabilizing force than whatever might be the legitimate impact of elections on the power structures?

Also, elections in the absence of a functioning judiciary are also potentially destabilizing. Put simply, the change in power becomes simply a means to throw your opposition into jail. How much is that seriously on the table in Iraq?

We still have to weather the elections......and for those of us here... Sigh....gulp!

"The former White House political adviser blames himself for not pushing back against claims that President George W. Bush had taken the country to war under false pretenses".

That's the same rhetorical dodge that Feith, Wolfowitz, Bush and Rice used; they admit they was remiss over not 'splainin things so we could understand.

The huge 2002 US intel budget, energized after 9/11, was equal to the rest of the world combined. Britain's intel budget is about as robust as their army. Listen to the deniability built into the famous 16 words, and tell me that it doesn't smack of Rove-speak's deceptive intent:

["The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."]

Later:
["These sixteen words should never have been included."]

Tell us Karl, master-debater that you are, what a damnable lie it is that Irv Libby took the 'obstruction of justice' bullet for you?

Why does the hyperlink on the word "Newsweek" in this article link to a picture of a pot plant on wikipedia?

I could spend all week with this topic but will only say this. For now everyone has their own opinion concerning removing Saddam. I am sure that the Iraqi people that were abused and slaughtered under his reign would have more to say on the subject than any American college educated infidel. Time will tell and evidence will surface giving everyone the full information about WMD’s and reason’s for and against the invasion. Because of the division of Sunni, Shiite and Kurd there will be conflict within the country as they vey for power. The only reason the country of Iraq was stable in our eyes was the fact that a dictator ruled with an iron fist as did Stalin, and Hitler. Everyone seems to forget that after WWII the US and its allies remained in Germany and Japan to re-build those governments and infrastructure which are now two of the most economically powerful nations in the world that have maintained their cultural identity. Bad American’s, Bad.