- The withdrawal from Iraq became a little clearer this morning (actually late last night): We've completely rebuilt Iraq. We'll that's what you'd expect to hear, truth is that we "...never intended to completely rebuild Iraq." Really?

The "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq" says that the administration is working toward winning the war on three fronts: by training Iraqi security forces, by helping the nation establish a democracy, and by targeting economic development and rebuilding efforts in areas of the country cleared of insurgents.

It's going to be hard to do that with no money, and to be honest Iraq hasn't been rebuilt. A new school here, spotty power there (12 hours per day on average, could you imagine?). New road here, broken pipeline there. New prison here, no sewage or sanitation there. I'd be a generous man if I even said that they broke even.

Two paragraphs sum it all up. This also fits into the tactic of the Global Guerilla movement discussed yesterday here.

the hundreds of Americans and Iraqis who have devoted themselves to the reconstruction effort point to 3,600 projects that the United States has completed or intends to finish before the $18.4 billion runs out around the end of 2006. These include work on 900 schools, construction of hospitals and nearly 160 health care centers and clinics, and repairs on or construction of nearly 800 miles of highways, city streets and village roads.

But the insurgency has set back efforts across the board. In two of the most crucial areas, electricity and oil production, relentless sabotage has kept output at or below prewar levels despite the expenditure of hundreds of millions of American dollars and countless man-hours. Oil production stands at roughly 2 billion barrels a day, compared with 2.6 billion before U.S. troops entered Iraq in March 2003, according to U.S. government statistics.

Million not billion, someone made a mistake

Bush said (8 Aug. 2003):

"In a lot of places, the infrastructure is as good as it was at prewar levels, which is satisfactory, but it's not the ultimate aim. The ultimate aim is for the infrastructure to be the best in the region."

- One pipeline pumping, another one burning.

Oil output is falling in recent months

Iraq's oil exports in December fell to their lowest level since the official end of the conflict in 2003, Iraqi interim government figures have shown.

Last month's exports totaled 1.1 million barrels per day, down from November's 1.2 million figure.

Bush and the oil biz don't work to well together do they?

- Pat Land discusses why American democracy isn't as effective in the Arab World do to vast cultural differences not accounted for by average Westerners.

- Bush continues to deny that he misled the country when he assured us that he got a court order before he tapped into the country’s privacy. You decide.

From his radio address on 10 December 2005, less than a month ago

The Patriot Act is helping America defeat our enemies while safeguarding civil liberties for all our people. The judicial branch has a strong oversight role in the application of the Patriot Act. Under the act, law enforcement officers need a federal judge's permission to wiretap a foreign terrorist's phone or search his property. Congress also oversees our use of the Patriot Act. Attorney General Gonzales delivers regular reports on the Patriot Act to the House and the Senate.

That's pretty cut 'n dry folks.

I've decided.

He's a liar.

Proving that there are some honest Republicans out there, Senator Dick Lugar (R-IN) joined the Republican ranks requesting an investigation, he joins Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA). Bill Kristol, you can call this 'paranoid liberalism' no longer. A 'constitutional crisis' would be more appropriate.

- Simon Jenkins pens a dark view of Iraq. Here are the opening two paragraphs

The good news is that 2006 will see the effective end of the western occupation of Iraq. It will end because everyone will be exhausted: the Americans, the British, the Iraqis and their neighbours. It will end because all justification for its continuance will have evaporated.

The election whose result is to be declared this week is good news. The federal constitution fashioned by Zalmay Khalilzad, the American ambassador, is good news. The resulting coalition government will be good news since it will put the strongest group, the cleric-backed pro-Iranian Sciri, or Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, in effective power.

Posted by Geoff