Nearly 400 U.S. body bags later, the White House is only now concluding
that it installed Spanky and Our Gang to run Iraq, led by Ahmad Chalabi,
the Dennis Kozlowski of the Sunni Triangle?

"The death of the modern mahomet will seal the fate of Mormonism. They
cannot get another Joe Smith. The holy city must tumble into ruins, and

'latter-day saints' have indeed come to the latter day." New York

1844

Statements that Mormons are held captive to a cult are nothing new. Nor

the Bold and Triumphant statements from biased persons who assume to know
all, and proved so incredible wrong over time.

Those who sought to kill the Prophet Joseph Smith on the assumption the
Religion would Whither and die without the Man that that "held the

captive with this Powerful Personage"

And those who gloated in the aftermath of the Martyrdom.

Governing With All The Keen Skill Of Delta House
DANIEL RUTH
Published: Nov 16, 2003
http://www.tampatrib.com/MGAJ1IXG2ND.html


You get a sense that things are deteriorating into "Hail Freedonia"
-like proportions in Iraq when President Bush's administration starts
talking about using Afghanistan as a role model for democratic reform.

Wouldn't that be a bit like looking to Jeffrey Dahmer for home
entertainment advice?

Geez, Tampa City Councilman John Dingfelder wields more political clout
than Hamid Karzai, who rules firmly - with more body armor than Sir
Lancelot, protected by Special Forces, the Sixth Fleet, the Strategic
Air Command, Rambo and The Untouchables - over his front porch.

Isn't it amazing, and sad, that the only consistent voice with any
credibility when it comes to Iraq has been 20-year-old Jessica Lynch,
the former Army private who has resisted efforts by the Pentagon to turn
her into a Sgt. York of the Persian Gulf?

Nearly 400 U.S. body bags later, the White House is only now concluding
that it installed Spanky and Our Gang to run Iraq, led by Ahmad Chalabi,
the Dennis Kozlowski of the Sunni Triangle?

Perhaps this is the inevitable, bloody, costly result of engaging in a
war with less thought given to an exit strategy than Butch and Sundance
pondering their options only after they've been surrounded by the
Bolivian army.

So amid the fretting over an ultra- ultra-top-top-secret CIA report that
was leaked faster than an Elvis sighting in News Of The World, Iraqi
Viceroy Paul Bremer was hastily recalled to Washington for high-level
consultations.

But in consulting with the very people who thought the conquest of Iraq
would be more of a cakewalk than Cassius Clay dispatching Sonny Liston,
Bremer had to feel as if he had been invited to a housewarming party at
Tara.

Actual Reading

The CIA report expressed grave concerns that the growing Iraqi
resistance might embolden the populace to conclude the U.S.-led
coalition might be defeated.

As well, the CIA document suggested efforts at democratic
nation-building were at risk of failure unless significant action
against insurgent elements could be taken immediately.

Dire? Sure. Bleak? Absolutely. Scary? You bet.

But what could be argued as equally unnerving were reports, first
disclosed by The Philadelphia Inquirer, that the reason the CIA memo was
so obviously leaked to the news media was the hope that the information
somehow would manage to penetrate the ``Everything Is Beautiful''
gatekeepers and actually be read by the commander in chief.

After all, while attacks on U.S. troops are averaging three dozen a day,
the president has been running around the country complaining that not
enough attention is being paid to all the swell news coming out of Iraq,
such as the installation of a $27 million Halliburton stop sign in

Good grief, this is like Chauncey Gardner as leader of the free world.

Film Festival

Meanwhile, the administration - in a sort of Andy Hardy from Hell
version of ``Hey, I got an idea, let's put on a war!'' - finds itself
scrambling to speed up the transfer of power in Iraq, even if it means
transferring power to the Sharks and the Jets.

That's a great idea except for the fact that the leaked CIA memo noted
the handpicked crowd making up the Iraqi Governing Council is about as
competent to assume leadership as Yogi Bear taking over the National
Parks Service.

It seems the Iraqi Governing Council is riven by tribal, ethnic,
religious and political differences. In addition, its 25 members often
fail to show up for legislative sessions, preoccupied only with issuing
proclamations and engaging in nepotism.

Sounds like the U.S. Congress, only without the truck bombs.

Entifadh Qanbar, a flack for Chalabi, told The Associated Press that the
characterization of the council as being less effective than the Florida
Legislature was unfair considering members had been ``taking part in
international events.''

You could make an argument that these folks may be more ready for
democracy than we thought. After all, it would seem they clearly grasp
the concept of the political junket at public expense.

And thus, although the Iraqi Governing Council has demonstrated all the
skills of the Delta fraternity in "Animal House," our White House grows
ever more restless to declare democracy and get out.

This is what happens when you "liberate" in haste. Body bags ('transfer
tubes' is the current official military terminology) start to look like
Electoral College votes.