On a conference call with progressive media, White House deputy national security adviser for strategic communication Ben Rhodes stressed that the United States would now commence a “normal” relationship with the Iraqi government, an equal partnership between two sovereign nations. But it’s hard to square that with the reality that the United States will have a massive diplomatic presence in the country, with the largest embassy in the world in Baghdad, two consulates in Ibril and Basra, and as many as 5,000 private military contractors under the direction of the State Department protecting it all.

Mahmood Al-Yousif, a Bahraini blogger, was arrested overnight by the regime’s security forces. They came for him at 3am local time. As I write this, it is seven hours later, and his brother Hani reports that “We don’t know where he’s held.”

I just got off a call with Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security advisor for strategic communications, about the Libyan operation. Rhodes really tried to make the distinction between the allegedly limited military mission of the coalition and an operation with the clear objective of regime change. Rhodes said that the mission is “restricted to civilian protection,” and added that if you allow the military policy to creep into regime change, there is no UN authority for it.