] "When America treats its friends this way, then they are
] in big trouble," Chalabi said.
] He called Thursday's raid "the penultimate act of failure
] of the CPA in Iraq."
] He said his relationship with the CPA is now
] "nonexistent."

How much of a government will there be to turn control over to in Iraq? The head of the council has been assassinated, and council itself seems plagued with rival factions all trying to cut each others throats. And we think the country will be able to survive, let alone organize and execute a general election?

What is the world smoking? Wake the hell up. June 30th is a bullshit date.

] "When America treats its friends this way, then they are
] in big trouble," Chalabi said.
] He called Thursday's raid "the penultimate act of failure
] of the CPA in Iraq."
] He said his relationship with the CPA is now
] "nonexistent."

What is the world smoking? Wake the hell up. June 30th is a bullshit date.

[ It always was. A friend of mine who's a JAG indicated to me the other day that, this is, as I understand it, a legal game so that american forces can stop being an occupying force and begin being an invited peacekeeping force. We hand over power, and they sign a thing saying "We're fucked, please help!" and we magically go from illegitimate occupiers to legitimate foriegn aid, from an international law perspective (lawyers, please feel free to tear this all apart if it's wrong... this is the impression i've got).

In real-world, pragmatic terms, nothing changes, never was gonna, and all the rhetoric from the administration is, as you certainly surmise, designed to make the gesture look more relevant (again, in an everyday joe, pragmatic sense) than it is. Politics and semantics, i say. -k]