Iraq War/Fallout From Iraq Study Group Report Roundup

There is just far too many important - and even more infuriating - posts out in the blogosphere (or, as Skippy would call it, blogtopia!) related to the release of the Iraqi Study Group/Baker-Hamilton commission report this week and the loyal Bushies' boorish and bone-headed reactions to it to do even the most critical ones justice. So I've tried to do a quick roundup of those you might want to investigate yourself.

In a must-read article at Salon, Juan Cole (the Middle East expert who blogs at Informed Comment), notes that, "The president's Shiite allies in Iraq really don't like some of James Baker's Sunni-friendly suggestions."

Jon Ponder of Pensito Review notes that "Rightwing propoganda that no ISG members served in the military is a lie." He also writes that, "WaPo says Iraq Report is 'repudiation' of Bush, neocon policies."

Pat Buchanan (who opposed the Iraq War vociferously from before its start) jumped to defend President Bush's big yawn and insistence that he (Bush) didn't even have to read the damned thing, let alone act on its recommendations. Then, in the same breath, Buchanan - on MSNBC's Redneck RivieraScarborough Country last night - stated rather categorically that going into Iraq and starting a war there was the worst mistake the U.S. had ever made. Wow.

The Iraq Study Group report concludes that the Bush-Rumsfeld war policies have failed in almost every single application. Also, that the remaining possibility to change the course there grows fainter every day.

Philip Carter, writing at Slate, says one of the biggest shortcomings of the Iraq Study Group information gathering was that it talked to generals but did not at all seek out the opinions of the grunts on the front lines. I agree there.

The august Glenn Greenwald voices largely the same views I have; that the Baker-Hamilton commission was "a travesty waiting to happen" and "what rational person would listen to people like James Baker?"

From Steve Benen at the excellent Carpetbagger Report: "Professional blowhard Bill Bennett lashed out at the Iraq Study Group yesterday, writing in the National Review that, “In all my time in Washington I’ve never seen such smugness, arrogance, or such insufferable moral superiority. Self-congratulatory. Full of itself. Horrible.” One wonders if he appreciates the irony of Bill Bennett using these words to describe others."

I also agree with AmericaBlog's assessment that the ISG report is a dud that Bush will completely ignore if he doesn't ridicule to death.

This article at Alternet states that the ISG report recommendations pretty much guarantee that Iraq's oil resources will, regardless of whether the U.S. stays or runs from Iraq, will remain in the control of U.S. oil/energy companies.

Columnist Jonathan Landay emphasizes the finding of the Iraq Study Group report that the Bush Administration makes routine practice of underreporting and downplaying the levels of violence that increase almost everyday in Iraq.

Senator Gordon Smith, a Republican, came out yesterday to call the Iraq War absurd and quite possibly criminal in the way it has been carried out by the Bush Administration. While the press has tried hard to ignore what Smith said, Smith's people say that at least a dozen other GOP senators agree with Smith.

William Arkin at Washington Monthly just isn't impressed with the ISG report. Here's his take on it.

For video of how Jon Stewart and "The Daily Show" tackled the ISG, go here. Also, Crooks and Liars' John Amato quotes from ISG panel member and GOPer Lawrence Eagleburger in WaPo:

"Minutes after the Iraq Study Group placed an improvised explosive device beneath the Bush administration's Iraq policy yesterday, panel member Lawrence Eagleburger was asked how President Bush reacted to the recommendations.

"His reaction was, 'Where's my drink?' " the former secretary of state cracked after the commission's White House visit and Capitol Hill news conference. Reaching for his own cola, Eagleburger continued: "He was a little loaded. It was early in the morning, too, you know.""

This barely even scratches a molecule of the surface of what's out there but.... you can share your own favorite/most infuriating links on this topic in Comments (hint hint).