gyre(Image from LOLauthors)

And the hits just keep coming.

Today, a new report stated that the US should disband the Iraqi National Police:

The report, authored by a 20-member panel comprised mostly of retired senior military and police officers, said the massive deployment of U.S. forces and sprawl of U.S.-run facilities in and around Baghdad has given Iraqis the impression that Americans are an occupying, permanent force.

(...)

Worse off is the Iraqi police force. It describes them as fragile, ill-equipped and infiltrated by militia forces. And they are led by the Ministry of Interior, which is "a ministry in name only" that is "widely regarded as being dysfunctional and sectarian, and suffers from ineffective leadership."

Jones' panel recommended scrapping Baghdad's national police force and starting over.

Oh, that's a great idea. It worked out so well with the Iraqi army. In four years, will Paul Bremer and President Bush still be playing "Rock, Paper, Scissors" over which fatuous dickhead is to blame for this newest cascading set of errors? ("I did it 'cos the President told me to!", "I'm the Decider, but I didn't know jack shit about that decision. Nobody told me nothin'.", "I told you, Mr. President.", "What? Who the hell are you, anyway? LA LA LA LA LA...Isn't it time for my bike ride?")

The AP has a nice roundup of recent Iraq studies, all of which soundly negate the tides of lukewarm pabulum we're being fed by Republican politicos and the Democrats who love to suck up to them. Some highlights:

The Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq, chaired by retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones, released Sept. 6:

_Iraq's security forces will be unable to assume control of the country without U.S. help in the next 12 to 18 months.

(...)

_The national police force is rife with corruption and infiltrated by militia forces and should be disbanded.

_An adequate logistics system to support the Iraqi army is at least two years away.

The Government Accountability Office progress report on Iraq, released Sept. 4:

_Of its 18 stated political and security goals, Iraq failed to meet 11 of them with the least progress made on the political front.

(...)

_Violence remains high, and it is unclear whether sectarian-fueled attacks has decreased because it is too difficult to prove intent.

_The number of Iraqi security forces capable of conducting independent operations has declined, and militias remain armed.

The National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, released Aug. 23:

_Represented the most authoritative written judgments of all 16 spy agencies, with the Central Intelligence Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency as key contributors.

_Determined that the Iraqi government is strained by rampant violence, deep sectarian differences among its political parties and stymied leadership.

Levels of violence against civilians and attacks on coalition forces in Iraq have stayed the same since The Surge began. The real numbers just don't match up with the current crop of lies and distortions the White House and Pentagon are trying to spin before next week's new product roll-out.

Editor and Publisher:

NEW YORK With the "surge" report due next week, the U.S. military's claim that violence has decreased sharply in Iraq in recent months "has come under scrutiny from many experts within and outside the government, who contend that some of the underlying statistics are questionable and selectively ignore negative trends," The Washington Post's Karen DeYoung reveals today.

The Post carries her detailed report on page A16. "Reductions in violence form the centerpiece of the Bush administration's claim that its war strategy is working," DeYoung observes. But she adds: "Others who have looked at the full range of U.S. government statistics on violence, however, accuse the military of cherry-picking positive indicators and caution that the numbers -- most of which are classified -- are often confusing and contradictory.

Of course, it's easy for BushCo to fudge the numbers when all the important details are "classified". The question is whether or not an overly credulous press corps and the deluded Dems in Congress are going to play handmaidens to another Republican policy catastrophe.

Greg Mitchell (E&P):

...(F)or now I’d simply like to address the media’s responsibility to address, over the next few days, this key moment in our recent history with a steady gaze – which, as I will recount, was sadly lacking last winter in the weeks before the “surge” was announced.

Essentially, that Bush decision – and his rejection of the Iraq Study Group's recommendations at that time -- was the most tragic turn in this war since the original invasion, and like its overall performance in the run-up to the 2003 attack, the press (with notable exceptions) failed miserably.

I could get my hopes up for America's J-School graduates to spontaneously develop things like curiosity, integrity, and an unwillingness to worship whatever bright shiny objects the Bush administration shows them, but frankly, I'm not holding my breath. I looked into my crystal ball and all I saw for next week was screaming banner headlines:

Crocker/Petraeus: The Surge is Working!

and

EVEN DEMS AGREE: Iraq is Just Ducky!

and even

Success in Iraq, Now On to Iran!

Maybe FDL should do like Jezebel and create our own line of barf bags for Fall Fascism Week. We're probably all going to need them.