You know Pat, it's hard to imagine at this point, but it IS going to get uglier, and no amount of US involvement, troop buildups, tough talk, or "study groups" are going to change that fact.

By invading Iraq, George Bush may turn out to be a "uniter not a divider" after all, except that it's the Arab states that will enjoy the by-product of his little excursion.

I suspect that we are going to see increasing involvement by Iran and Syria in negotiating the future of Iraq, not because we ask them to but because they don't really need us. Having let the genie out of the bottle the US is increasingly irrelevant to the process.

It will take leadership from somewhere to resolve this conflagration. Watching the Prez on the news last night rejecting the suggestions of his own appointed policy group and delivering the very statesmanlike prouncement that Maliki "is the guy for Iraq", you know damn well he's not the one to lead us out of the forest.