Dog & Pony Show

When war reaches comic opera absurdity, it becomes time to end it. Not only is Petraeus or Crocker or someone distributing leaflets on visiting Congresspersons, but they are ONLY shown what the Bush Administration wants them to see:

Brief, choreographed and carefully controlled, the codels (short for congressional delegations) often have showed only what the Pentagon and the Bush administration have wanted the lawmakers to see. At one point, as Moran, Tauscher and Rep. Jon Porter (R-Nev.) were heading to lunch in the fortified Green Zone, an American urgently tried to get their attention, apparently to voice concerns about the war effort, the participants said. Security whisked the man away before he could make his point.

Tauscher called it "the Green Zone fog."

"Spin City," Moran grumbled. "The Iraqis and the Americans were all singing from the same song sheet, and it was deliberately manipulated."

But even such tight control could not always filter out the bizarre world inside the barricades. At one point, the three were trying to discuss the state of Iraqi security forces with Iraq's national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, but the large, flat-panel television set facing the official proved to be a distraction. Rubaie was watching children's cartoons.

When Moran asked him to turn it off, Rubaie protested with a laugh and said, "But this is my favorite television show," Moran recalled.

Porter confirmed the incident, although he tried to paint the scene in the best light, noting that at least they had electricity.

"I don't disagree it was an odd moment, but I did take a deep breath and say, 'Wait a minute, at least they are using the latest technology, and they are monitoring the world,' " Porter said. "But, yes, it was pretty annoying."

Now that's some spin out of Porter, a Republican naturally (yesterday he claimed he was told by Green Zone Bosses that if we leave Iraq gas would be $9 a gallon). Iraq's National Security Adviser is watching CARTOONS and to him it is "monitoring the world".

Obviously Porter is familiar with ongoing operations in the Oval Office.

Explains a hell of a lot.

By the way, I'm pretty sure that no matter how little electricity the rest of Baghdad has, somehow the GREEN FUCKING ZONE always finds a way to have it 24/7. But nice try at extrapolating Congressman Porter.