"It is too late for debate about being in Baghdad. And the (relatively) pretty phase of empire - the swift dispatch of an enemy army - is over. Regime change, occupation, nation-building - in a word, empire - are a bloody business. Now Americans must steel themselves for administering the violence necessary to disarm or defeat Iraq's urban militias, which replicate the problem of modern terrorism - violence that has slipped the leash of states...
"Since Sept. 11, 2001, Americans have been told that they are at war. They have not been told what sacrifices, material and emotional, they must make to sustain multiple regime changes and nation-building projects. Telling such truths is part of the job description of a war president."
-George F. Will
The translator's testimony, which directly contradicts Dr. Rice, gets little play in the US. (Full text of Dr. Rice's testimony.)
And why didn't Bush testify alone?
Maureen Dowd: "Every single thing the administration calculated would happen in Iraq has turned out the opposite."
MORE NEWS:
* The BBC asks: is Iraq turning into Bush's Vietnam? The Shia uprising in Iraq spreads farther. So, what exactly is the plan to unite Iraq?
* Oh, right, Afghanistan, forgot about them.
* Learning to expect the unexpected.
* Greenland's ice cap under threat from global warming.
* Scientists seek to create 'a map of science.'
* Scientists can now weigh a single bacterium or cell.
* Welcome to cyberpunk: eyeball jewelry. ("Courtesy" Callico.)
* Legendary sword returns to Indian hands.
* Dude, we *said* we were sorry. (Courtesy Operative X.)
* Abba studios forced to close down, as they couldn't pay the rent.
"We're trying to explain how things are going, and they are going as they are going."
-Donald Rumsfeld