MEANWHILE, BACK IN IRAQ

Yes, there are some heartening developments – in Sammarra, as I’ve noted. Falluja is now headed, it appears, for a big showdown; and we can only pray for success. There seem to be cracks in the insurgency – between domestic anti-Americans and the Zarqawi fanatics. Great. Let’s try and widen them. But the security situation hardly seems to be improving. The Green Zone, which I was warning about a couple of weeks back, is no longer safe. If you cannot maintain minimal security in the inner sanctum of your own capital, then security itself is a misnomer. And now we have indications of some reservists – the victims of Bush’s awful war-management – who are simply refusing to go on what they are calling “suicide missions.” Even America’s soldiers are having a hard time defending themselves in a country where chaos reigns. Whose responsibility? Bush’s. Will he take it? Never.