Hadley's Memo

The New York Times reports today about a memo from Bush National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley expressing serious doubts about Iraq Prime Minister Maliki's ability to control the sectarian violence in Iraq.

Seriously, no shit?

Hadley paints a portrait of a man working at cross-purposes with the current United States objectives:

Despite Maliki’s reassuring words, repeated reports from our commanders on the ground contributed to our concerns about Maliki’s government. Reports of nondelivery of services to Sunni areas, intervention by the prime minister’s office to stop military action against Shia targets and to encourage them against Sunni ones, removal of Iraq’s most effective commanders on a sectarian basis and efforts to ensure Shia majorities in all ministries — when combined with the escalation of Jaish al-Mahdi’s (JAM) [the Arabic name for the Mahdi Army] killings — all suggest a campaign to consolidate Shia power in Baghdad.

From the reap what you sow department, it is ironic and sad that Maliki seems to have learned how to govern at the feet of the worst President ever:

The information he receives is undoubtedly skewed by his small circle of Dawa advisers, coloring his actions and interpretation of reality. His intentions seem good when he talks with Americans . . . . But the reality on the streets of Baghdad suggests Maliki is either ignorant of what is going on, misrepresenting his intentions, or that his capabilities are not yet sufficient to turn his good intentions into action.

Sadder still, this President seems intellectually and emotionally incapable of any sort of reflection, much less the quality of reflection which allows most of the rest of us to draw parallels and learn lessons about ourselves from evaluation of the actions of others. So, the irony of this little paragraph in the report no doubt remains unabsorbed by anyone in the 1600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue. Even if the rest of the country sees it, large and clear, for what it is -- the first grand tragedy of the 21st Century.

CNN is reporting confirmation that the memo is genuine. As if.



(photo credit: Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP. Baghdad. June 2006, via YahooNews via HuffPo)