So How Are Things Going in Iraq?

Both the LATimes and MSNBC have information this morning that $100 mil of the money in The Rapid Reconstruction Response Program (or R3P) in Iraq is missing. The DFI (Development Fund of Iraq) says that officers “cannot properly account for or support $96.6 million in cash and receipts.” MSNBC said, “One American official working on Iraqi reconstruction issues, who is familiar with the allegations, spoke on the condition of anonymity, saying, 'The worse-case scenario is that someone took it home.'” Of course the DFI has pointed out, $100 mil is only a small portion of the multi-billion dollar fund. But the fact remains, no one knows who has spent how much for what or when. And it's a mystery where that $100 mil has gotten to. Cheney has deep pockets what with all those Halliburton contracts in Iraq, maybe the $100 million worked its way into Cheney's retirement fund. As of this morning 1593 Americans have been killed in Iraq. And more soldiers are reporting back that they know the whole enterprise has been about oil Echoing the unsettling truth telling coming out of Iraq from the guys who are in the thick of it, Senator Dan Lungren (R-CA) sent a letter to his constituents defending his vote for drilling in ANWR, saying, “we're in Iraq to obtain oil”. CNN's latest poll says fifty-seven percent of those polled did not believe the war in Iraq was worthwhile. Is it any surprise that the White House is crowing about the third-highest-ranking member of Al Aaeda, Abu Farraj al-Libbi, having been captured in Pakistan? The Bush team badly needs some good news. But the turd in that punchbowl is that Libbi may not be all that important. And more to the point, rumor has it that he was captured a while ago and has been kept on ice awaiting the right moment to make the earthshaking announcement. Sound familiar? Remember Saddam in the hidey-hole? That also has been alleged to be a White House creative re-write of facts. Well, desperate times call for desperate acts. And is the White House desperate, or what?