And speaking of truths that the president would rather not hear, the collapse of the "government" of Iraqi "Prime Minister" Nouri al-Maliki is, apparently, one.
Talk about whether Iraq's government will survive is taboo among U.S. officials, but experts and diplomats say the hobbled coalition is in big trouble and the betting is it won't last.Talk of a collapse is unhelpful.
Nearly half of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Cabinet members have quit or are boycotting meetings at a time when the Bush administration is under pressure to show Congress that Iraq's warring factions are reconciling.
The State Department's key players responsible for Iraq policy declined interviews on the strength of Iraq's government, but U.S. officials have made it clear that Washington backs Maliki and that talk of a collapse of his government is unhelpful.
Actually, no. You know what's unhelpful? George W. Bush's childlike unwillingness to acknowledge facts that conflict with his worldview. Facts such as, if the Iraqi government has not collapsed, it is only because there is no Iraqi government to begin with. There is no conceivable sense in which the Iraqi "government" can be said to be anything of the sort. It has no monopoly on the use of force within its borders. It has no ability to protect itself from attack from outside its borders. It cannot regulate markets. It cannot raise revenue to build infrastructure, or provide services or security for its people. If the government of Nouri al-Maliki is, in fact, a government, I can't think of anything that isn't a government. Talk about a liberal definition of terms! How's that for irony?
Meanwhile, back at Politburo on the Potomac, there is to be no deviation from the party line. Everything is just fine in the occupied territories. Gum drops grow on trees, Freedom is on the march, and everybody has a pony.
And if you start to suspect that, maybe, everything isn't peachy-keen, whatever you do, don't talk about it. That wouldn't be helpful.
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