Instahoglets 18th Jan 06

Normal snark levels will now be resumed.

The Guardian's Simon Jenkins puts it plain - the West has picked a fight with Iran it cannot win.

Iran is the regional superstate. If ever there were a realpolitik demanding to be "hugged close" it is this one, however distasteful its leader and his centrifuges. If you cannot stop a man buying a gun, the next best bet is to make him your friend, not your enemy.

I should add in here that yet again, the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has told the world that:

"We are not after nuclear arms. Western states know well that manufacturing nuclear arms is contrary to political and economic interests of the nation and is in violation of the commands of Islam."

And for those who would believe the neocon crap (yet again) that the people of Iran are crying out for regime change and would strew rose petals at the feet of their liberators, think again. Kevin Sites examines the honor martyrs are given and the esteem in which they are held -- particularly amongst Iran's poor and more conservative religious populations. Then recall that America backed Saddam in his war with Iran and that Iranians have long, long memories.

More from the Guardian, this time Iraq:

An official assessment drawn up by the US foreign aid agency depicts the security situation in Iraq as dire, amounting to a "social breakdown" in which criminals have "almost free rein"...The picture it paints is not only darker than the optimistic accounts from the White House and the Pentagon, it also gives a more complex profile of the insurgency than the straightforward "rejectionists, Saddamists and terrorists" described by George Bush.

Oops. What a foul-up by the rosy picture brigade! You just know some spinmeister is gonna get a Rovian reeming for this.

Insider Larry C. Johnson recalls his conversations with Paul Bremer and says Bremer is wrong about no-one anticipating the Iraqi insurgency.

"I tried to warn him and I tried to hook him up with genuine experts on Iraq before he went to Baghdad in the spring of 2003."

But Bremer, like Bush and the rest, just went "La, la la..I can't hear you!"

Regular reader Kirk sent me the next one. As the "social breakdown" that everyone anticipated except the Bush administration continues in Iraq, the U.S. Army is telling soldiers who have privately purchased Pinnacle's Dragon Skin Body Armor (the state of the art body armor that totally outclasses Interceptor armor but is too expensive for the Pentagon's beancounters)to shed their Dragon Skin's or risk losing the death benefits from their $400,000 SGLI life insurance policies. Yep, that's taking care of the troops the Republican way...

(P.S. Currently nine US generals stationed in Afghanistan are reportedly wearing Pinnacle Dragon Skin body armor, so it's great for the generals but not OK for the P.B.I.)

Talking of supporting the troops the Bush way:

"The Pentagon hopes to reap billions of dollars to pay for ships, aircraft and other weapons by doubling or tripling health insurance premiums paid by military retirees and driving 600,000 of those pensioners out of the military medical system, a coalition of veterans organizations charges."

The beancounters up at the Pentagon need to be demoted and transferred directly to Mosul. Do not pass go, do not collect any body armor at all.

Whiskey Bar has a large collection of quotes that show the Republicans were more than happy to claim Jack Abramoff as exclusively one of their own right up until he became a liability. That's when Jack becam an "equal money dispenser" as far as the spin was concerned. Bush is trying to say he never knew Abramoff. The All Spin Zone is the first to ask "what happens when Abramoff testifies otherwise?"