Meanwhile, in the rest of the region . . . NATO is increasing forces in Afghanistan. Bush now has 3 carrier groups in the Persian Gulf. And there is a US military presence in the countries bordering the north of Iran. Seems Iran is surrounded by hostile armies & navies. Meanwhile, Bush is stepping up the rhetoric.

Does anyone else sense a lot of misdirected focus here? Seems to me that in 6 months, Bush will have lit the fuse in Iran & we will be engulfed in an even wider war we can’t win. And the claims of Iran developing nuclear weapons are being stated ONLY by the same people who lied our troops into Iraq, using the same, exact lie. Add to this discussion of a limited nuclear option against Iran’s “weapons factories” by some in the military establishment, & we have a scenario of certain, absolute disaster.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. How many times are we going to let King Geoge fool us?

I think we’ll know sooner. Look for whether Iraqi army casualties outnumber US casualties by a significant degree. Look for whether Muqtada is screaming and threatening — if he’s not it’s because he knows the Maliki government isn’t really coming after him. Watch the movement of Sunnis and Shiites to see whether ethnic cleansing is still going on. If you read the words “militia forces recaptured” or “insurgents retook” at any point, game over, it means we’re “clearing” but not “holding” let alone building.