] Iraq's deepening crisis has left the Bush administration
] with few options, and although the US has entrusted the
] United Nations with the task of finding a way towards
] political stability and elections, officials and analysts
] close to the White House admit that hopes of success are
] receding fast.
]
] Insiders describe a lack of direction and a prevailing
] sense of gloom and desperation in the administration.
] This gloom has only been intensified by the exposure of
] torture and sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

Is the US about to loose control of this completely?

] Iraq's deepening crisis has left the Bush administration
] with few options, and although the US has entrusted the
] United Nations with the task of finding a way towards
] political stability and elections, officials and analysts
] close to the White House admit that hopes of success are
] receding fast.
]
] Insiders describe a lack of direction and a prevailing
] sense of gloom and desperation in the administration.
] This gloom has only been intensified by the exposure of
] torture and sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

Is the US about to loose control of this completely?

[ I'm pretty sure we're about fucked. You can't go into a war with no plan or strategy other than "We're total badasses with bling weapons, bitches" and expect to succeed. The most relevant meme here, which some of my posts from this week convey, is that america has lost the Image completely. It was always a bit tenuous, but through careful manipulation of language and action, the WH has been able to spin it mostly in their favor, to the great displeasure of many. Regardless, it's gone now, replaced by exactly what they didn't want. As the NYT said, the new image of the war is a parody of christ -- a man, hooded, standing naked with electrodes hooked to his outstretched hands... it's images of smiling GI's standing over a posed pile of human flesh, laughing at genitalia and reveling in the humiliation of their captives.

The hold was slipping already... this just dumped some hot oil onto the situation, and it'd take a miracle, I think, to pull anything resembling success out of this mess. There's just no spin, because it's been etched into the public mind, and certainly even more so worldwide.

The miracle Bush is hoping for, and which the conspiracy wonks have been whispering about for months, is a pull-Osama-out-of-a-hat maneuver sometime in late summer. If he does that, Bush wins the election and gets four more years to kill, even if Iraq is a smoldering wasteland, and America is out of jobs. -k]