Es ist genug!

If there's any doubt that this administration's credibility is tanking and almost ready to go into free fall, just consider the air raid earlier this week in Western Iraq. The government do not dispute the number of dead. However, the government is clinging to the position that the only victims of the raids were insurgent rebels. On the other hand, there are far too many ghastly images of dead women and children to discount completely the suggestion that it was a wedding party that was attacked.

To compound our problems, we've essentialy sacked Chalabi and the INC, we are pinning our hopes that things simply don't get worse after the June 30 handover, and still have no idea to *whom* power will be transferred. The administration is merely clinging, Polyanna-like, to the naive hope that a democratic Iraqi government will spring forth fully-formed in time to take over on June 30.

There is no talk of moving the deadline, yet even a simple analysis of the situation suggests that the only effect of this intransigence will be to give all of our enemies a heads-up as to when will be the best time to step up their campaigns. Moreover, since we've committed to maintaining our present forces at roughly the same amount for at least another year, what is the advantage of specifying a hard target date for the transfer? The only thing that comes to mind: political expedience.