Imperial decay on display
The backroom intrigue at the White House is truly becoming worthy of the late Roman Empire. Amid all the breathless (but pointless) excitement over the doings of the blue-ribbon panel that goes by the names "Iraq Study Group" or "Baker-Hamilton Commission" or "Bipartisan Hacks Stroking their Collective Egos" comes the news (on page A16 of the Washington Post — the revealing stuff is always buried on the inside pages) that President Bush has simultaneously launched his own review of Iraq policy:
The initiative, begun after Bush met at the White House with his foreign policy team, parallels the effort by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group to salvage U.S. policy in Iraq, develop an exit strategy and protect long-term U.S. interests in the region. The two reviews are not competitive, administration officials said, although the White House wants to complete the process before mid-December, about the time the Iraq Study Group's final report is expected.
Sure, they're not competitive. Why, it's only coincidental that the guy spearheading this effort is National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, who's tight with the Cheney bunch that stands to be sidelined by Baker and Poppy Bush's crowd.
Methinks this is the Chimperor's passive-aggressive way of telling his daddy he's going to do as he darn well pleases. It would be funny if Iraqis weren't dying at a pace of more than 100 a day (which is what it's been the last two days — and those are only the deaths reported to the authorities).
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