Fact One: The U.S. military is unable to sustain its current surge in Iraq past next March, regardless of policy decisions. Fact Two: the "Iraqi" "government" has failed to meet any of the benchmarks for political progress we were told should be a criterion for continuing to police Iraq's civil war. This was another lie, of course. Bush never had any intention of actually framing the military strategy according to Baghdad's political process. But it's a lie that will now be usefully exposed, along with the others. Just for the record:
This spring, Congress agreed to continue funding the war through September but demanded that Bush certify on July 15 and again on Sept. 15 that the Iraqis were living up to their political promises or forgo U.S. aid dollars.
The official said it is highly unlikely that Bush will withhold or suspend aid to the Iraqis based on the report.
Of course, Dick Cheney's response to seeing the edge of a cliff approaching is to accelerate.