The Dish

His own data-set on Iraq belies his op-ed on the surge.

Sweden does a lot better than you’d expect.

Who knew?

What if Mary Poppins were re-edited into a horror movie? The trailer might look something like this:

The Pope speaks:

"We all see that today man can destroy the foundation of his existence, his Earth. We cannot simply do what we want with this Earth of ours, with what has been entrusted to us. We must respect the interior laws of creation, of this Earth, to learn these laws and obey them if we want to survive. This obedience to the voice of the Earth is more important for our future happiness … than the desires of the moment. Our Earth is talking to us and we must listen to it and decipher its message if we want to survive."

One glimpse through the fog of war:

Suddenly the trees were gone and the sky opened up. I couldn’t see anything.

"We’re in the slum now," Lieutenant Evan Wolf said. "It’s a nasty one, too. Some houses are literally made out of cardboard. I would kill myself before I lived here." I have no idea how these people survive without air conditioning and clean water. The environment here in the summer is unrelentingly hostile.

"How did you get into this job?" Eddy said.

"I was in the high tech industry a few years ago," I told him. "I got bored of the cubicle farm and needed to get out of the office."

"You’re way out now," Eddy said and laughed.

"I can’t wait to get in the office," Lieutenant Wolf said.

"Do you like your job?" Eddy said.

"I love my job," I said. "It’s the best I’ve ever had. Do you like yours?"

"I wouldn’t say it’s the worst decision I ever made," he said. "It’s hard for soldiers. We all want to go home, of course. But we also want to stay and make sure our buddies did not die for nothing."

There were no street lights. All I could see was absolute darkness and the faint outlines of hovels against a backdrop of stars.

(Photo: Totten. Hit his tip jar.)

More evidence of the lack of there there.

The Pollack-O’Hanlon op-ed today about Iraq offers one new solid reason for optimism. It’s the following:

American advisers told us that many of the corrupt and sectarian Iraqi commanders who once infested the force have been removed. The American high command assesses that more than three-quarters of the Iraqi Army battalion commanders in Baghdad are now reliable partners (at least for as long as American forces remain in Iraq).

If the military is becoming less sectarian, then that’s a big deal. Sorry, but count me unconvinced. Pollack’s only sources are American advisers and the "high command." Well: they would say that, wouldn’t they? Compare Pollack’s account with the statement two days ago from the man tasked to actually train the Iraqis:

The new American general in charge of training and equipping Iraq’s security forces said the hardest challenge was finding good leaders free of sectarian loyalties.

"You can’t grow a force this fast and have the right number of qualified leaders," Lt. Gen. James M. Dubik told The Associated Press on Saturday. "You can’t do it. This is a problem now, and it will be a problem for a good number of years." General Dubik said nonsectarianism was "much harder" to instill than teaching soldiers how to fight.

So who’s right? Pollack’s "American advisers" or the general tackling the problem itself?

I get the sense that Pollack has been snowed by a great Pentagon presentation. Or, as Matt notes, is just a sucker for his old friend Petraeus. But even Pollack has to concede this:

In the end, the situation in Iraq remains grave. In particular, we still face huge hurdles on the political front. Iraqi politicians of all stripes continue to dawdle and maneuver for position against one another when major steps towards reconciliation — or at least accommodation — are needed. This cannot continue indefinitely. Otherwise, once we begin to downsize, important communities may not feel committed to the status quo, and Iraqi security forces may splinter along ethnic and religious lines.

And so Pollack and O’Hanlon want to extend the surge into 2008. If that means keeping some forces temporarily in place to help local government emerge in a way that can, at least, impede al Qaeda, then few will disagree. If it means another indefinite commitment of US troops to occupying Iraq in the absence of any viable central government, then the answer must be a firm no. The benchmarks for the surge remain what they always were: has it created the conditions for a national settlement? If it has, there’s a reason to stay. If it hasn’t, we need to start getting out, in a way that protects, as far as possible, whatever local achievements we have managed to accomplish.

‘Plastics". "The Graduate."

The word that springs to mind is "clusterfuck."