03 February 2006
Surprise! (not)
Omigosh! You mean it's not going to be quick and easy the way our beloved President promised us it would?
I particularly like this little goodie:
On the banks of the Nile, a scorpion asks a crocodile to carry him on its back across the river.
"But you'll sting me," says the crocodile, "and it will kill me."
"Now, that would be stupid, wouldn't it?" says the scorpion. "If I sting you and you die, and sink, then I'll drown."
"Well, yeah, I guess so," says the crocodile. "Hop on."
Halfway across the river, the scorpion stings the croc.
As the crocodile is dying, he gasps out "Why did you do that? Now we're both going to die!"
And the scorpion says "What can I tell you -- this is the Middle East."
¶ 1:26 AM
Lag in Forming Iraq Government TroublesomeWell, duh
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press WriterThu Feb 2, 4:13 PM ET
Iraqi efforts to form a government are only now beginning in earnest nearly two months after key elections, and the hard bargaining could take weeks — if not months — to produce a new leadership. That could delay the eventual drawdown of U.S. forces.
American diplomats are putting intense pressure on the Iraqis to agree quickly on a government to include Shiites, Kurds and Sunni Arabs, the community that forms the backbone of the insurgency.
Until a new government is in place, it is unlikely the United States and its coalition partners can move to the next step — pulling out some of the 160,000-strong multinational force.
If the Iraqis take the maximum time allowed for each step, it would be May before a government is in place. Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite widely mentioned as possible prime minister, said Wednesday he expected to finish the talks by mid-March.When what freezes over?
However, negotiations in Iraq often move at a glacial pace, and deadlines written in the law are sometimes ignored — such as during last year's deliberations on the constitution.
I particularly like this little goodie:
The Shiite alliance, for example, has insisted Sunni politicians not only condemn "terrorism" but work actively to oppose the mostly Sunni insurgency. Sunni Arabs insist on drawing a distinction between terrorism — suicide bombs that kill civilians — and "legitimate resistance" against forces of the U.S.-led coalition.So we are working to establish a government in Iraq that may well write it into its Constitution and/or laws that waging guerrilla war against us as we prop it up is legitimate.
On the banks of the Nile, a scorpion asks a crocodile to carry him on its back across the river.
"But you'll sting me," says the crocodile, "and it will kill me."
"Now, that would be stupid, wouldn't it?" says the scorpion. "If I sting you and you die, and sink, then I'll drown."
"Well, yeah, I guess so," says the crocodile. "Hop on."
Halfway across the river, the scorpion stings the croc.
As the crocodile is dying, he gasps out "Why did you do that? Now we're both going to die!"
And the scorpion says "What can I tell you -- this is the Middle East."
¶ 1:26 AM
