Come sail away

So the Iraqi government has set sail. To me it seems as though the fate of the nation is adrift on an ocean of violence. I hope the new Prime Minister, Ayad Allawi, can stay alive long enough to work his magic. Regardless of how one feels about how we got to Iraq or what we did when we got there, it is in America's interest to see the new Iraqi government succeed.

Unfortunately, it will be very difficult. The stealth handover was spun by the Bush administration as a way to confound terrorists who might have intended to interrupt the process with an attack. But the utter lack of pomp and circumstance, celebration and publicity that might normally accompany the birth of a nation was conspicuously absent. Why? Because Iraq, is more of a bloody mess than ever.

The US is guarding the fledgling government with a Military that is stretched to the limit. They are at the limits of reasonable capability because the insurgency is solidifying. That has left reconstruction in the lurch. Shortly before Bremer left, the CPA admitted that "...fewer than 140 of 2,300 promised construction projects are under way.“That’s the real tragedy for the Iraqi people and, in all probability, the fuel for the insurgency. The Government Accounting Office has issued a scathing report on the general health of the reconstruction effort under the Coalition Provisional Authority. According to USA Today, It draws a harsh picture of the effort:

The U.S. administration in Iraq was bedeviled by staff shortages, escalating violence, lack of functioning Iraqi courts and continuing electrical power woes, a congressional report out Tuesday says.

Meanwhile, the Administration continues to paint a rosy picture of the future of Iraq and blame the media for focusing on the negative. I think people are not buying it anymore. That's what the polls show, anyway.