Clinton said new tactics have brought some success against insurgents, particularly in Iraq's Anbar province.

"It's working. We're just years too late in changing our tactics," she said. "We can't ever let that happen again. We can't be fighting the last war. We have to keep preparing to fight the new war."

I was a little hesitant to say this before, but Hillary coming up with this has moved me squarely into the "not Hillary" camp. The overall on the surge is exactly what was predicted. Violence is down slightly in the troop concentrated areas, but up in others, in other words, it's a wash. Further, the point of the surge was to buttime for the Iraqis to build a unifying government. That clearly isn't happening. The Sunnis have pulled out, the more fundamentalist Muslims (like al-Sadr's wing) have pulled out, the Kurds only interest was hanging around to see what happened and make sure they weren't going to get trampled on again, and NONE of that is working.

Hillary saying this sends not just a mixed message, but a wrong one. It's working so we should get out? WTF? Great, she sends a sop message to moderate Republicans (who hate her and wouldn't vote for her even if you were going to chop off their voting fingers) and to wavering independents (hey Hillary? There AREN'T ANY OF THOSE ANYMORE!) to try to position herself better for the general election. Way to go Hillary, you've just positioned yourself in opposition to the entire base of your party and have been so damn wishy washy about this that people won't trust you because you don't have a solid position.

She voted for the war in 2002, voted for more money at every step, then says she regrets doing so, and now says it's working but we should get out anyway. With the exception of Mike Gravel who I think is kinda nuts, I'll take anyone but Hillary for the Democratic nomination.

Clinton, McCain split on Iraq pullout - Yahoo! News

Last Oct. 18, Henry Barbour registered to lobby for Camp Dresser & McKee Inc., a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based engineering firm that had also been a client of his uncle's firm in Washington. A week later, seven CDM officials each gave the governor's re-election campaign $1,000.

One of the projects recommended by the governor's reconstruction commission was a $3 million study of water management systems in six Mississippi counties affected by Katrina. Camp Dresser and Waggoner Engineering, another client of Henry Barbour's firm, worked on that project. CDM paid Henry $15,000 for the final quarter of 2006, according to state lobbying records.

Nothing like a bit of cronyism and bribery...

Bloomberg.com: News

Disclaimer #1, I'm not a structural engineer. That said, this photo along with the security cam footage of the collapse indicate the collapse started on the south side of the bridge which this photo is facing (and if the link isn't working right, it's frame 49, also the description from CNN showing the bridge collapse is wrong, the footage is from the south end of the bridge, closer to downtown, not the north side as they describe it here).

What the photo, combined with the video are making the non-engineer ask is, "See that section on the bank that points towards the south at about a 20 degree angle? That section of bridge did not fall down, like the rest of the bridge, it fell sideways. Why?" I'd start looking there.

35W Bridge collapse by jpiehowski

Late Thursday, Sauer issued the order for Hilton to return to court after the city attorney filed a petition demanding that Hilton be returned to jail and to show cause why Baca shouldn't be held in contempt of court.

Oops. Paris may have some company in jail now...

Hilton Ordered Back to Court After All - The Huffington Post

"I have no doubt that a trend of global warming exists," Griffin told Inskeep. "I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with."

"To assume that it is a problem is to assume that the state of Earth's climate today is the optimal climate, the best climate that we could have or ever have had and that we need to take steps to make sure that it doesn't change," Griffin said. "I guess I would ask which human beings — where and when — are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now is the best climate for all other human beings. I think that's a rather arrogant position for people to take."

As George Carlin puts it, "Besides, there is nothing wrong with the planet. Nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine. The PEOPLE are fucked."

ABC News: Top NASA Official Doubts Global Warming

President George W. Bush would like to see a lengthy U.S. troop presence in Iraq like the one in South Korea to provide stability but not in a frontline combat role, the White House said on Wednesday.

Someone, specifically W, has absolutely no idea what the real world looks like. And that bit about not planning to stay indefinitely? I don't think this statement and that one are reconcilable. It's been a lie from day one.

Bush envisions U.S. presence in Iraq like S.Korea - Yahoo! News

The Bush administration is quietly on track to nearly double the number of combat troops in Iraq this year, an analysis of Pentagon deployment orders showed Monday.

The little-noticed second surge, designed to reinforce U.S. troops in Iraq, is being executed by sending more combat brigades and extending tours of duty for troops already there.

So the real reason they're saying no to any of the timetable stuff is because rather than getting out Bush is planning to throw MORE people into the meat grinder?

Bush could double force by Christmas

Nearly 20,000 people were in Iraqi-run prisons, detention camps, police stations and other holding cells as of the end of March, according to a U.N. report issued last month, an increase of more than 3,500 from the end of January. The U.S. military said late last week that it was holding about 19,500 detainees, up more than 3,000 since the U.S. and Iraqi governments began implementing the security plan in mid-February.

Back to Tom Ricks' book Fiasco again, this is one of the things that caused such a god-awful mess in 2003-4 that got us where we are now.

At this point, I'm sold. The "surge" is going to make Iraq into an even worse bloodbath for us than it was before and guarantees, we will not have a stable, allied Iraq anytime soon, and probably not ever. Getting out by next spring/summer won't do it. If we simply picked everything up right now and got the hell out of Dodge in the middle of the night like the Colts leaving Baltimore, we'd be better off.

New Detainees Strain Iraq's Jails - washingtonpost.com

"With two carrier strike groups in the Gulf, we're sending clear messages to friends and adversaries alike," said Cheney on a visit to the John C. Stennis aircraft carrier off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, a close U.S. ally.

Yes, we're saying, "look how incredibly stupid we are to put all of these huge boats in this little tiny bathtub for you to send zodiac suicide bomb boats and launch silkworm missiles at if we even twitch!"

Cheney warns Iran, assures allies on Gulf visit�|�Politics News�|�Reuters.com

"The surge needs to go through the beginning of next year for sure," said Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the day-to-day commander for U.S. military operations in Iraq.

General Odierno is the former head of the 4th Infantry, and appropriately blasted for the actions of his command. If he's in charge of the ops Petraeus is writing, there is no way in hell the "surge" will do anything but make things even worse.

Petraeus is the right guy to run the show there but is probably too late. With Odierno behind him, he's screwed, and so are we.

Commanders in Iraq See 'Surge' Into '08 - washingtonpost.com