Reclaiming Iraq – Part 2: The Simple Hand Job

Is it too much to hope that the MSM might see past these theatrical gestures?

Simply, what was billed as a two-day summit to re-calibrate the Administration’s Iraq policy turned into a one day meeting at Camp David, then a massive publicity stunt on day two, dropping Bush into Iraq so he could wave to his confidently posed cabinet officers from Baghdad.

As for substance, day one produced little more than an abstract wish that the Iraqis distribute more oil revenue to its people.  (Oil revenue as a cure-all?  Can’t remember where we heard that before.)

Anyway, get ready for a whole new round of flag waving and arm pumping, combined with a lame collection of “evidence” subtly suggesting that we’ve “turned the corner.”  Be prepared to hear that: Zarqawi (the U.S. invention) is dead; Maliki has managed (barely and belatedly) to name Interior and Defense Ministers; the Administration is (making sure you know they are) listening better and admiting mistakes.

Therefore, the only conclusion John Q. Public could draw from events this week are: America will “stay the course”; “achieve victory”; and not “cut-and-run” like those yellow Democrat war veterans.

(image 1: Eric Draper/White House.  June 13, 2006.  Baghdad.  whitehouse.gov.  image 2:  David Bohrer/White House.  June 13, 2006.  Camp David.  whitehouse.gov.)