The military seems to be crumbling in front of our eyes. Sad. Bob Morris, at Politics in the Zeros, puts it well...

Abbott and Costello in Falluja

Let's see, two weeks ago the US was sternly opposed to former Saddam loyalists having any post whatsoever under their new puppet government, saying this absolutely positively would not happen because such people were evildoers. One week ago they reversed their decision, saying by golly a former Saddam general would now be in charge of forces at Falluja, and that he appeared to be a swell fellow. Today they reversed their reversal saying the Saddam general will not be in charge after all. Uh huh, I am deeply impressed with the clarity of US leadership. And just a few days ago, the US miltary was making dire threats about the world-class butt-stomping Falluja was about to receive. Today those in Falluja are celebrating the US pullout - more signs of a collapsing US command. And what does the US military plan to do in Falluja now? They've no idea. Falluja plan in doubt as US deals with furor over abuse.

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Iraqi general refuses to give up Falluja fighters

Doesn't Play Well With Others ...

A Year from "Mission Accomplished"
An Army in Disgrace, a Policy in Tatters, the Real Prospect of Defeat

The U.S. Has Lost the Battle of the Photographs
By Juan Cole

The images of the war have stubbornly come out despite the best efforts of Donald Rumsfeld and Karl Rove, Bush's campaign manager. True, the wounded US soldiers and the wounded Iraqi children have gotten relatively little news coverage. But burning Humvees, bomb craters, and collapsed buildings, have all along punctuated the evening news. The intimate pictures directly touching on Americans have had a more gut-wrenching impact. The photographs of the dead fresh-faced twenty-somethings were highlighted this week by Koppel, and by major newspapers like the Washington Post. The pictures of flag-draped coffins coming into Dover have already become iconic of the Iraq war, despite earlier attempt to suppress them. But the most fateful pictures of all have been the footage of the aerial bombardment by Americans of Fallujah, a densely inhabited city, and of American soldiers torturing and humiliating Arab prisoners. The success of the American war effort depends crucially on retaining public support in the U.S. and winning hearts and minds in Iraq and the Arab world. The images seeping out of Iraq are undermining both, because aggression, wrong-headed policies and incompetence have left a trail in photos. That is what the manipulators of the media who favor perpetual war are so afraid of.

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