"But Cheney said that by the middle of January 2009, it will be clear that “we have in fact achieved our objective in terms of having a self-governing Iraq that’s capable for the most part of defending themselves, a democracy in the heart of the Middle East, a nation that will be a positive force in influencing the world around it in the future.”

"All of that by 2009? “Yes, sir,” he replied."

He sounds like Joe Stalin, talking about Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and so on.

How do you have a "self-governing" democracy with hundreds of thousands of foreign soldiers and armed mercenaries roaming the country, propping up a puppet government and determining foreign policy? (Exempt from Iraqi laws, by the way.)

You don't.

More "last throes" stuff. The Mehdi armies have stood down, for now, and there has been no political reconciliation in spite of having US soldiers on every corner in Baghdad calming the violence temporarily.

Arf