Tom over at This Modern World (this site’s alma mater) points out today’s NYT piece reviewing just how not-reality-based the Bush plan for Iraq always was:
By September, the more than 140,000 troops in Iraq could be down to little more than a division, about 30,000 troops.
That was supposed to be over a year ago.
They had no f***ing clue what was coming. None. And we’re supposed to keep trusting them with our future.
Cut to the present, where we learn Bush has refused to allow UN Muslim peacekeepers in Iraq to help safeguard the upcoming not-reality-based elections. Why? Simply because they wouldn’t have been directly under U.S. control. Because, y’know, we’re doing such a bang-up job on our own.
The episode raises doubts about the Bush administration’s repeated assertions that proper elections can be held in Iraq by January and that it is eager to have other countries send troops to Iraq to ease the burden on American forces. The U.S.-led coalition has been losing members since the insurgency intensified in April. Five countries — Spain, Honduras, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and the Philippines — have pulled out their troops, about 2,200 total.
At least two other countries plan to withdraw their forces earlier than scheduled.
But don’t forget Poland!
Oh, wait. Now they’re pissed off at us, too.