the iraq war is going 'badly'

* there's an odd meme that has bubbled this last couple of days - that the iraq war is the defining monument of PReznit Blinky - and that americans are turning on him because of iraq, and on lehrer on friday some pollster dared even say that iraqi deaths (!) are a real problem for americans - and everyone keeps quoting the polls that say that americans think there will be a civil war in iraq. dare i say it, fred barnes actually made the same point today that i made a couple of weeks ago - that it is *completely* irrelevant whether the americans think that iraq will be / is in a civil war.

in any case, my point is that this meme that americans dont like bush because of the way the iraq war is going is probably misleading, and possibly quite dangerous - unless 'iraq' is seen in a broader context as a proxy for lying and incompetence. iraq is 'over there' - and as such, is something quite removed. if we need to hang a war around his neck, let it be the WarOnTerror(TM) - even if there is no such thing. hoist/petard and all that. If the focus is on iraq, then there will be those who argue that it should have been done 'better', or 'more troops' or 'everyone thought they had wmd' - all false, and all 'outs' - and all of which will leave the door open for the next evil radministration to simply cover their tracks better next time.

i.e. the real problem isnt that the iraq war is going 'badly' - keep this in mind as the meme cements in these next few weeks.