As the Senate continues to vote for the deaths of more American soldiers in the meat grinder of Iraq, the Charlatan continues his mad, delusional propaganda campaign against the truth. He continues, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, to publicly conflate the Iraqi insurgency with the Al-Qaida terrorists responsible for the WTC and Pentagon suicide attacks. You may find admirable his surreal, or perhaps sociopathic ability, to stay the message in the face of mounting public discontent and congressional carping over his war. Nevertheless, one of the last silly justifications for invading Iraq hit the dust today. Government intelligence analysts conclude that the Al-Qaida organization has regained its operational strength in it's mountain redoubt along the border of Pakistan with Afghanistan. Instead of luring jihadists into destroying themselves by opposing our heavily equipped army in Iraq, the diversion of U.S. effort into regime change and nation building there has given the terror network a crucial breathing space so that it has "regrouped to an extent not seen since 2001". Thus, say the analysts, the network is "better positioned to strike the West". Despite or perhaps because of the Charlatan's stubborn refusal to end the failed occupation, and the Republican filibuster against withdrawal in the Senate, the New York stock exchange hit a new high on Thursday. Could it be that endless war whether sensible or not is good for big business? Ask a defense contractor.
Weekend Update: The Regime's claim that 8 of the 18 benchmarks have been met is misleading, labeled so by the National Security Network a advocacy group of 2,000 national security advisers and experts who reviewed the lack of progress by the Maliki government point by point. Only minimal progress has been made on any of the items, and on some, such as the all important oil revenue sharing law, no progress has been made.