You can’t continue to leave a political vacuum

Condi tells ITV that “Iran is not Iraq,” in case you were wondering about that. Says the US won’t go to war yet because “we believe that diplomacy has a chance to work.” If I read that correctly, the “Iran is not Iraq” line entails an admission that diplomacy wasn’t given a chance to work in Iraq.

Condi found the welcome in Blackburn so warm that she & Jack Straw quickly escaped to the more congenial environs of Baghdad. Actually, the purpose was to apply to dickering Iraqi politicians still unable to form a government after more than 3½ months the sanction of extreme scolding. Says Rice, “You can’t continue to leave a political vacuum.” Which is funny, because she works for a man who... oh, you were all way ahead of me. She’s putting yet more pressure on Jaafari to step aside – I’d love to know exactly what she said to him in private. In public they talked about... the weather.


Jaafari is now so unpopular with Iraqis, including many Shiites, that even the signs that the US despises him are not helping him – now, that’s unpopular! Riverbend says Iraqis don’t expect any improvement in a new government, but

we’re just tired of waiting for the final formation. People need to know who’ll be in power because they want to know who to pay bribes to... [and] which religious party to go to when the Interior Ministry goons take away a relative.

Of course the problems involved in forming a “unity” government go way beyond just Jaafari, but Americans as always are looking for the quick fix. At least they don’t seem to be looking for another strong man to impose on Iraq.

The new Israeli Knesset will contain no native English speakers.